SEARCY -- Residents are celebrating after finding out Tuesday night that the White County town of Searcy has been selected to be the focus of a streaming series' upcoming season as well as the recipient of $500,000.
Searcy was one of six finalists in a competition to win the $500,000 "marketing and business transformation" and be featured in the fourth season of Small Business Revolution -- Main Street.
The city learned of its victory during a watch party at Harding University.
"I have never seen this much excitement over one project in my life," Searcy Mayor Kyle Osborne said. "These people in Searcy right now, we're ready, we're excited, and I can't wait for things to kick off tomorrow and get started."
Small Business Revolution is a reality show that airs on Hulu and stars Amanda Brinkman, Ty Pennington and experts from the small-business marketing company Deluxe Corp. Brinkman, Pennington and their team work with a different small town each season, providing marketing advice and other support to business owners.
In its first three seasons, Small Business Revolution visited Wabash, Ind.; Bristol Borough, Pa., and Alton, Ill.
The audience in Searcy, after learning they won the competition. pic.twitter.com/6sjtNuuWBx
— Josh Snyder (@JSnyderAR) February 27, 2019
The race to become the top choice for the show's fourth season began in the fall, when roughly 12,000 nominations were put forward, many by community leaders, according to a news release by Deluxe. Stephanie Mann, a spokesman for the company, said she believes it is the largest number of nominations the corporation has received since Small Business Revolution began.
In November, the show's team visited their top 10 choices, including Searcy, which made its way into the top six. Mann said typically the team members narrow the competition to the top five cities, but they couldn't bring themselves to eliminate so many this time.
"We put them in the top six because we could feel this incredible momentum here," Brinkman said. "We could feel what a beautiful community it is. People really understand the value and importance of supporting small businesses, and that is what the small-business revolution is all about."
At one point Searcy led the vote tally, which began Feb. 12, but it dropped to the No. 2 spot the day before voting ended. That led to a "tremendous push" in calling for people's votes in the final hours before the poll closed, according to Amy Burton, executive director of Main Street Searcy.
Voting ended Feb. 19, and residents had to wait a full week before learning that Searcy had won.
Now the real work begins for many of the city's entrepreneurs.
"Oh gosh, I don't even know where to start," said Osborne, who plans to meet with some of the driving figures behind the town's efforts to win the competition.
Burton said she will begin planning for the business makeovers that come with the show.
"It's just the next step," she said. "Obviously, it's not over. We have a phenomenal momentum going, and now that we have the backing of Deluxe and the Small Business Revolution -- Main Street, we are just ready to make a difference."
Mayor Brant Walker of Alton Ill., the town featured in the show's previous season, said the show led to tremendous change in his community and the surrounding area.
"Get ready for a whirlwind, because it will come," Alton said. "Make sure you ride the momentum. Don't squander the opportunity, because the national attention you're going to get doesn't come along very often."
Brinkman said the group is excited about working in Searcy.
"We feel like nothing is more compelling than when you hear a small-business owner's story," she said. "You hear about what's challenging about running the business, or how they feel guilty about how they're not home with their kids more, or you hear about what an incredible success it is to hire another employee.
"When you hear about these highs and these lows and you get to know the actual person behind the business, you want to support them. So for us, telling those stories is imperative to inspiring more people to support them."
Small Business Revolution -- Main Street can be seen on Hulu, YouTube and SmallBusinessRevolution.org.
State Desk on 02/27/2019