Each person standing in line, overlooked by the mural of Seymour’s most famous son, started the filmed interview with the same proclamation.
“I love living in our small town because…”
The answers took off from there as citizens voiced reasons why they loved living in their community and told the cameraman what they would like to see in the downtown in the future.
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Volunteers, from toddlers to the elderly, gathered at This Old Guitar Music Store, 106 W. Second St., on Tuesday morning to help shoot a video that will be entered into a nationwide “Home Town Takeover”contest.
The contest, created by HGTV, has three requirements for its entrants: The town has to have a population of less than 40,000, have homes with great architecture longing to be revealed and a main street that needs a facelift.
While HGTV’s website doesn’t say how much money would be put into the future project, it states it will be the biggest renovation project in the cable network’s history.
If chosen, HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier of the hit series “Home Town” will take over the city to shoot a six-episode series that will result in a makeover of the downtown and adjacent historic district. The episodes would air in 2021.
The submission info is basic but requires video and photos as a major supplement.
Becky Schepman, executive director of Seymour Main Street, is leading the charge on the project.
“I think this would get us over the final hump,” she said. “Main Street has been around for 25 years, and there are 55 volunteers that have been working. It has been slow progress, but it always is with a project this size.
“We’ve gotten a lot of new businesses within the last five years, and we’re thrilled with that. We have this new grant with the park going in (at One Chamber Square) and we just got the new pavilion (at Crossroads Community Park), but we’re just sitting here because we have 12 empty buildings and some bad alleyways,” she said. “If we can just get this to take us over that last hump, I think we could really be on the map.”
Schepman hired videographer James Young of LoveWell Productions in Columbus to create the video. She said Young has done the Dancing with the Seymour Stars event each of the past three years and has helped with other various projects.
With a deadline of Feb. 7, Schepman said she is confident Young and his crew will put together a great video on a tight timeline.
Around 100 volunteers met in front of the John Mellencamp mural at 11 a.m. to get the project started.
Each group began by holding a white picture frame that said “Seymour Indiana #smalltownbigdreams” and making a statement.
Peggy Findley, a Seymour native who has lived in the area for the past 70 years, was among the volunteers.
“I thought, ‘What a wonderful opportunity to broadcast our town,’” she said. “I would love to see some of the vacant stores have something in them. I would like to see them stay longer than a lot of them do. I would love to see a Christmas store and a bookstore. I would like to see more activities along the streets so more people come and see the town.”
After each person made a round, Larry McDonald, owner of This Old Guitar, brought speakers outside to blast Mellencamp’s song “Small Town.”
The volunteers danced and sang along with the song on video before the crew migrated around the downtown area for more shots.
McDonald was interviewed in his store before Melody Hageman and Drew Storey, chairs of the Seymour Main Street design committee, talked about the other mural, located on the Edward Jones building on West Tipton Street, inside CPR Cell Phone Repair.
Storey, who also is a member of the Seymour City Council, said he was happy to see so many people come out and volunteer their time, and he’s excited for the future of the downtown whether or not Seymour wins the contest.
“Main Street has done a really good job of partnering with the city of Seymour,” Storey said. “The city has done a really good job and the redevelopment commission has also done a fantastic job. My dream and hope here is that we continue to go down that path.”
The group then congregated at Artistic Impressions to interview Seymour Area Farmers Market Chairwoman Carrie Smith.
The video shoot concluded with Schepman and Jackson County Visitor Center Public Relations Manager Jordan Richart doing a scripted talk by the mural located on the back of the Community Agency Building.
On top of the fresh footage, Schepman said drone video submitted by locals also will be included in the reel.
She said Richart was instrumental in getting everything done on the day, as he helped collect information and old photos of the downtown on top of helping with the shoot.
Once the video is submitted, there’s no telling when applicants will hear back from HGTV.
North Vernon also is submitting a video to be entered in the contest.