East Texas city applies for HGTV town makeover show

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A small East Texas town is hoping to get some help from a television mini-series to remodel and restore its old-town charm.

The town of Big Sandy is making application to HGTV to be the city selected to have a town makeover.

Former majestic homes, and historic town buildings now sit idle in in Big Sandy, a town that was once bustling.

“If you see pictures from the 1920′s and 30′s, where we’re standing right here the downtown area, on the weekends would be filled,” says Big Sandy Mayor Sonny Parsons.

Now they're looking for help from an unlikely source.

“Our city secretary noticed something in regard to renovation of a town’s old areas, from a program on television. We thought, ‘Let’s go ahead because we have a lot to sell here as far as the town,’” the mayor says.

A selected town will be featured in a program called ‘Home Town Takeover’, or ‘Home Town Rescue’, a six-episode series slated to premiere in 2021 on HGTV.

With just a little over 1,300 residents, Big Sandy doesn’t have resources to rebuild historic sites, and the chance at being selected for the makeover would be a Godsend.

"A lot of historic things around here in town. Quite majestic in certain ways you'd like to hold on to those old places," Parsons says.

And citizens believe a makeover would bring businesses and prosperity back.

"I think it's really exciting. This is small town and we depend on industry, and if we could do this, we could create more jobs," says local worker Connie Ellison.

But time is tight, as the application deadline is February 4.

The city is working on making a pictorial and video presentation as part of their application to HGTV.

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