Making Over Minden

Inspired by the success of its mega-popular Home Town series, HGTV is fueling a small town renewal movement that goes cross-country this summer with the premiere of Home Town Kickstart, a spinoff that features six teams of renovation superstars giving struggling towns the kickstart they need to thrive. Each team is tasked with three projects—refreshing the home of a local hero, upgrading a small business, and updating a public space—as a means to boost local revitalization efforts and engender community pride. And guess what? Minden made the cut. 

Some of the biggest names in the design industry descended on Minden—Page Turner, Carmine Sabatella, Mike Pyle, and Russell Holmes bring Minden together with a new community park that honors a part of local history. The newly opened Miller Quarters Park rehabilitates historic land into a community space complete with a playground and picnic tables, preserving a residential neighborhood where many Black families lived in Minden from the 1930s-1970s. 

Then, the team gives the interior and exterior of Geaux Fresh Bistro & Bakery, the city's local health-conscious eatery helmed by owner and chef Jodie Martin, a vibrant refresh. Since 2018, Martin has employed women who have completed, or are completing, a faith-based rehab or recovery program and live at Generation House—a transitional living space just blocks away from her restaurant—while they get back on their feet. Last but not least, viewers see the home of Phillip and Kenisha Smart, two local financial mentors who also run a non-profit, get a major upgrade.

“[The people of Minden] might think we’ve come here to bless them, but they have been the real blessing because my heart is full," said Turner in a video on the network's Youtube channel. More than 3.6 million viewers tuned in to the series premiere on April 24 (Minden's episode aired on May 31). Based on the success of Home Town Takeover in 2020, which transformed the town of Wetumpka, Alabama, Mr. Fish-style, city leaders expect to see a robust increase in Minden's tourism. In Wetumpka, tens of thousands of fans have visited to see the TV projects in person. 

To prepare for the potential influx of visitors, representatives from City Hall, Webster Parish Libraries, Webster Parish Tourism, the Greater Minden Chamber, business leaders, and involved local citizens are working together to ensure their home is as ready as it can be to reap the rewards of increased foot traffic in the near future. First up on the to-do list? Create a map for visitors that features the HGTV projects as well as sites of interest around Minden. The group is also looking into the possibility of developing guided tours as well as pre-recorded videos accessed via QR code to enhance local historic sites.

When Minden locals Rachel Miller and Sara McDaniel heard that their favorite HGTV program was looking for new towns to work with, they knew they could not pass up the opportunity to bring new life to the place they loved. "Rachel and I just felt there was an energy about Minden that was special," says McDaniel. "When I was moving back to North Louisiana from Texas, I made a list of the qualities I needed my town to have. I needed an older home with walkable amenities, to be near my family and an airport, and to be in a safe community. Minden was the place that fit all of these requirements."

Miller, a preschool teacher, has deep roots in Minden—her children are sixth generation to be born and raised there. "I find myself focusing my thoughts outward and looking at what Minden really needs," Miller says. "Now that we've brought a TV show to Minden, we're already looking toward the future and asking ourselves, what do we want to do next? How can we continue this trajectory?"

And the two are definitely living up to this focus on what is next. McDaniel, for example, is already working on her next project—renovating a series of historic Spanish-style apartments into a boutique hotel in the heart of downtown Minden. 

Like Wetumpka, Minden is a designated Main Street community. So what does that designation actually entail? The Louisiana Main Street program is a proven economic development model for downtown revitalization through public/private partnerships. Our Main Streets are the places of shared memory where people still come together to live, work, and play—not crowded suburbs or shopping malls. They tell us who we are and how the past has shaped us, and Minden’s downtown is a clear example of why Main Street works. Many of their historic buildings—and those original brick streets—have been rehabilitated for commerce and made viable for generations to come. visitwebster.net.

Sponsored by Visit Webster Parish