Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sam Houston
FROM MY FRONT PORCH
Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.
This past week, there were exciting happenings on the Granbury Square. Mind you, the Granbury Square has events throughout the year that are pretty darn spectacular. This would include but is not limited to the Wine Walk, the Harvest Moon Festival, the 4th of July celebration, and the Christmas parade.
All these events are attended by thousands of people, many whom come from outside Hood County. These visitors spend their cash in our stores, restaurants and businesses during their time in Granbury. Sometimes, I hear locals complain that these events and their attendees cause parking problems, make it difficult to get around town, and result in other inconveniences.
Visitors provide tremendous tax revenue for our local governmental entities as well as income for our business community. The visitor experience gives Granbury an identity in the world of travel and leisure. Over the past 20 years, there is no telling how many people have moved to Granbury because they came for a weekend and enjoyed their experience so much, they decided to move here and make it their permanent home. Leisure visitors are one of the reasons why our community has grown and why we have so much to offer our residents. The quality of life for everyone has been improved.
Having the filming of “1883” — the prequel to “Yellowstone” — take place in Granbury was exciting to most everyone. Farina’s Winery & Cafe was transformed into a movie set, and hundreds of people lined the street to get a glimpse of what happens on a movie location or perhaps get a glimpse of Sam Elliott or one of the other star performers.
Is this big news? One of the Hood County News Facebook posts about the event has reached over 85,000 people and the number is still climbing! Having Hollywood come to Granbury created publicity, excitement and revenue we would not otherwise have. Yes, some of us had to detour around the square for a day or had to put up with friends who went “star blind” because celebrities were in town. But goodness, the positives so outweigh the few short-term negatives. I will just say this: I can name 40 or 50 towns in Texas that would give their eye teeth, a future first-round draft choice, cash and a male-born child to have the events, visitors and publicity Granbury receives.
Here is a shout-out to Tammy Dooley and Kristen Gibson at Visit Granbury for working with the movie producers and staff and finding them a suitable location. Thank you to all the local merchants who endured slight inconveniences so our town could serve as a backdrop for what is sure to be one of the hottest television projects in years. Thanks to the city of Granbury and all its staff members for helping the production people handle a thousand different little details to make this TV shoot happen. The publicity was extraordinary and will come back to Granbury in spades. We can all take pride that Granbury is now part of television history!
Just another way Granbury is spectacular, and why I would not trade her for another town in Texas. (Or anywhere else for that matter!)
Thought for the day: There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in your own obituary.
Until next time ...
sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260
