ALTON – After a roller coaster of a year full of town pride and honesty, the premiere of season three of The Small Business Revolution will be celebrated Thursday night at WOW Furnishings and Event Center, located at 515 E. Third St. at 6 p.m.
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Prior to the premiere, reporters from Riverbender.com have been viewing episodes on Hulu, as they debuted Thursday. It also is available for free viewing at the Deluxe Corporation's website: https://www.deluxe.com/. The show is the number one show in the lifestyle genre currently streaming on Hulu, and each season has more than a million views, meaning Alton will again be in the national spotlight. The show's host, Amanda Brinkman, said Alton has been one of the most challenging, yet worthwhile, places the show has helped during its run. It is three times larger than either towns showcased previously.
“Working with a town of 30,000 people is different than working with a town of 12,000,” Brinkman said early Thursday afternoon. “Every town has beautiful and unique stories associated with that town. We loved the diversity and size of Alton. It was honest about its history and wanted to work together to bring it to the next level.”
Originally, the rules of The Small Business Revolution dictated that businesses beyond the Downtown District would not be included in the show, but within days, this had been overturned to properly display the diversity of Alton's areas and small businesses. Brinkman said the different areas of Alton need to be more cohesive and work together of the overall betterment of Alton.
“I was really proud of how the community came together, and really proud of how everyone was willing to be honest with themselves to find a way for everyone to have a seat at the table,” Brinkman said. “During the closing ceremony, Alton, like every other town, was thinking about how to make everyone feel welcome. How do you lean into this and do it right? How do you bring people to the table?”
During the summer months, Brinkman was joined by Ty Pennington, who is most known for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as well as the Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode dedicated to that show. The two of them worked with staff of the Minneapolis-based Deluxe Corporation to improve six Alton businesses as well as the city through a $500,000 grant.
While that money went toward improving the branding and marketing of the City of Alton as well as Lovett's Restaurant, Morrison's Irish Pub, Lighthouse Studios, Today's Beauty Supply, Shampooches Dog Grooming and Bluff City Tackle, Brinkman said the city still has work to do together in order to reach and exceed some of Alton's past primes.
“The biggest thing will be continuing to attract young, new small businesses,” she said. “It is important to fill slots on Broadway, and make sure all areas of Alton are included. The more they are included, the better the town will be. There are incredible and amazing people in every part of Alton, and the more people involved and included, the better. You need to celebrate the diversity, because that's what makes Alton unique.”
As far as Alton's past, Brinkman said she was impressed with such events as the Lincoln-Douglas debates as well as portions preserved from the Underground Railroad, and the fact Alton was home to one of the first anti-slavery groups. She said that sort of thinking and action ensured Alton was on the right side of history when the rest of the nation was not.
Brinkman and the crew will come back in May to shoot a special “Return to Alton” episode of the show, but she hinted she may return to the wonderfully diverse river town sometime before that.
For more updates and special, behind-the-scenes content, Brinkman encouraged people to follow her on social media through the handle, @AmandaKBrinkman.
