Bid for spot on Hulu show falls short
■ Alton, Ill., will be the featured city on Season 3 of ‘Small Business Revolution: Main Street.’
Siloam Springs learned on Tuesday afternoon that the town did not win the public vote to be featured on the Season 3 of the Hulu show “Small Business Revolution: Main Street.”
Show hosts Amanda Brinkman and Ty Pennington surprised Alton, Ill., on Tuesday afternoon with the news that they will be featured on Season 3 of the show. The town will receive $500,000 for revitalization as well as advice from the marketing experts at Deluxe Corporation. The town’s story will air in the fall of 2018.
“To the top five towns, congratulations on an incredible run and an amazing pride and enthusiasm you have for your communities,” Brinkman said.
Brinkman said that hundreds of thousands of votes poured in for each of the communities and the combined social media campaigns garnered more than 164 million social media impressions.
“One of the greatest effects of the Small Business Revolution: Main Street is how communities rallied together for the good of their downtown business district. … I have watched in amazement of the pride you have all shown. Our five finalist communities, Alton, Ill., Amesbury, Mass., Bastrap, Texas, Martinez, Calif., and Siloam Springs, Ark., should be immensely proud of how they came together and championed why they loved their small towns,” Brinkman said.
Siloam Springs residents packed the 28 Springs lounge for a watch party on Tuesday afternoon to watch the announcement on large-screen TVs.
“I’m so excited for this opportunity to reflect on all we have to celebrate,” said Kelsey Howard, director of Main Street Siloam Springs. “Seriously, we have so many great things that have been going on, so much momentum
and its because of you, the people that are here. And I just want to take a moment to applaud our brave and wonderful small businesses in the whole town.”
Making it to the final round of the competition has been an affirming experience for Siloam Springs, Howard said.
“I think really, in a lot of ways, all this attention is validating a lot of big dreams we have and plans we are implementing,” she said, referring to Main Street Siloam Springs’ partnership with the city on the Downtown Master Plan.
Howard said that “Small Business Revolution” will be back on April 25 to host a free marketing conference for small businesses throughout the region. She encouraged those interested in attending to follow Main Street on social media, and to sign up for the Main Street Siloam Springs Newsletter so they can register online since space will be limited.
There was little risk and plenty of rewards for applying for the show and participating in the selection process, Howard said. Sandy Luetjen, marketing manager for the city of Siloam Springs, and Anna Gibson, a Main Street Siloam Springs intern, made her aware of the opportunity to apply for the show last fall. Gibson filled out an application with the help of the rest of the office staff, and within two days Main Street received a call from the show.
In November, Siloam Springs was named one of 20 towns chosen from more than 14,000 applicants to be considered for the show. In December, Siloam Springs advanced to the top 10 and in January Brinkman, along with a production crew, visited the town. On Feb. 13, Brinkman announced that Siloam Springs made it into the top 5 towns.
Main Street Siloam Springs started a campaign to get out the vote immediately after Brinkman’s announcement on Feb. 13. The effort quickly spread to other organizations, businesses and individuals across the state. Throughout the week of voting, “Small Business Revolution” posted four updates on rankings. In each of the four updates, Siloam Springs was ranked fourth.
City board members commented during their Feb. 20 meeting that regardless of whether or not Siloam Springs won, the experience has been positive for the city and region.
“I think that’s fantastic,” said Director Bob Coleman. “We are number one, now whether Hulu recognizes or not or someone forgot to go vote, that’s beside the point. We are number one and as long as we can try to do everything this board can do and we can as a community, we will continue to be number one.”
Mike Capshaw contributed to this report.