Crowd gathers at Art Park to show support for HGTV contest
Jen Jones
Coshocton High School cheerleaders joined in the #chooseCoshocton pep rally held at the Art Park on Feb. 1. The video from the pep rally will be used as an entry into HGTV’s Home Town Takeover contest.
Brightly colored signs were held high as a drone flew over the Art Park on Feb. 1 to show support and love for Coshocton in the hopes that HGTV Home Town Makeover will choose Coshocton for a makeover.
Tiffany Swigert, executive director of the Coshocton Port Authority, said so many people in the community contacted both her and Kirby Hasseman about entering the HGTV show’s contest that they both felt they needed to go for it. “It’s overwhelming how many people wanted to do this. We have such awesome community support.”
If chosen, Ben and Erin Napier and the Home Town Takeover team will come to Coshocton and rehab individual family homes and revitalize public spaces, such as parks, restaurants or other public places, according to the HGTV website.
“They seem to focus on historic towns and we feel that Coshocton, being a canal town, and with our industrial history, like making the American flag here, make us a great choice,” said Swigert. Hasseman Marketing, city officials and the Coshocton Port Authority have been working on the entry since the contest was announced and the local interest became so large.
Swigert said they had to tell about the town and highlight the downtown area and also some historic houses. A narrative, five photos of specific buildings and a video (including footage from the Art Park) will be submitted to the contest.
The Coshocton Port Authority Facebook page has two videos that highlight Coshocton with 10 more being created. They urge people to “Be part of something big, some place small.”
Amy Hasseman said the energy for this contest has been great. “People are excited about this opportunity to bring new energy into the community and see the improvements that can happen.” She also said that winning could bring revitalization to a wonderful community with lots of great people. “Support from others to help improve what we have would be great.”
Linda and Tom Barcroft are members of Our Town Coshocton and urge everyone to check the group’s Facebook page to see what volunteer opportunities they have. “We’ll be starting our block by block clean up again this spring,” said Tom. They were also excited to announce that Coshocton was one of three cities in Ohio to be chosen by the National Main Street Center and Heritage Ohio to be part of a three-year project designed to help local community leaders develop and sustain new entrepreneurial growth.
Mayor Mark Mills said, “I really want to thank everyone for coming out on a Saturday morning to support this. We have so many opportunities and this shows people are ready to go after any opportunity we can. We can spread positive messages to drown out the negativity.”
Everyone is urged to use #choosecoshocton on Instagram and other social media to help spread the word about Coshocton and catch the attention of Home Town Takeover.
Category: People & Places
