"Home Town" on HGTV - Laurel MS (Biloxi: high school, roofing)

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by sheena12

I also like that the Napiers seem to have taken on the cause of an "underdog town". Hey someone's gotta do it.

Yep.

Unfortunately, many people in this life just look for a very safe lifestyle with many amenities and comforts. They never truly do anything in life and are constantly looking for the next easiest thing. You see it in this thread with the people who bash Mississippi. That's fine, because save for a few places, you will essentially need to create your own paradise. You do that by getting out of your own comfort zone and taking risks that matter. If you want the cookie cutter lifestyle, I'm sure the Memphis or Jackson suburbs with do just fine. There are also nice college towns and coastal towns with plenty of the comfortable life. But to revitalize towns like the Napiers takes a different kind of energy, we all know this, and they've been rewarded for taking that chance.

[brickpatio2018]

I'm so impressed with the Napiers. Amazing. With Laurel, I don't see it being a true underdog compared to a lot of places. It is truly blessed in terms of the residential areas and landscape, and also proximity to Hattiesburg. Statistically though it's about exactly average for the state overall in terms of median income. It would be fun to come back in 30 or 40 years after it's had time to evolve into a truly affluent place in the way places like Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh are now, because the potential is absolutely there.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

I'm so impressed with the Napiers. Amazing. With Laurel, I don't see it being a true underdog compared to a lot of places. It is truly blessed in terms of the residential areas and landscape, and also proximity to Hattiesburg. Statistically though it's about exactly average for the state overall in terms of median income. It would be fun to come back in 30 or 40 years after it's had time to evolve into a truly affluent place in the way places like Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh are now, because the potential is absolutely there.

I am too! True and true!

I am not at all dumping on Mississippi, but, whatever problems Laurel may have, reflect the problems of the state, not Laurel.

Texas is growing in population. Personally. I have three friends who have relocated there from New England, the mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and the midwest.

We get it. Texas is hot. A trendy place to move.

However, the Napiers are really trying to revitalize and promote their home town. They seem humble about it. They help folks find a home there and they also put Laurel MS on the map.

We are going to retire within the next decade. We'd like to be near salt water, and in an interesting and friendly place.

Sure, we'd have to visit. And I am not sure that it's a perfect fit - or a fit at all.

We may want to visit, God willing, if and when this COVID 19 stuff is over.

The Napiers have put not only Laurel but Mississippi on the map.

Everyone knows Texas. I visited twice.


There are other hidden gems out there, and this show and the Napiers have put "sip on the map.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by brickpatio2018

I'm so impressed with the Napiers. Amazing. With Laurel, I don't see it being a true underdog compared to a lot of places. It is truly blessed in terms of the residential areas and landscape, and also proximity to Hattiesburg. Statistically though it's about exactly average for the state overall in terms of median income. It would be fun to come back in 30 or 40 years after it's had time to evolve into a truly affluent place in the way places like Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh are now, because the potential is absolutely there.

Sanderson Farms is certainly not going anywhere, people will continually eat chicken (and good chicken at that). The Pine Belt overall has a very good economy.

[davebarnes]

We watch the show and admire both Ben and Erin for working to improve their town.
My problem is that while 63% of Laurel is Black, 90% of their customers and 99% of their staff are white.

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

We watch the show and admire both Ben and Erin for working to improve their town.
My problem is that while 63% of Laurel is Black, 90% of their customers and 99% of their staff are white.

And in a city as black as Laurel and a state as black as Mississippi, they can never find anyone black to do any of the work in these homes.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

We watch the show and admire both Ben and Erin for working to improve their town.
My problem is that while 63% of Laurel is Black, 90% of their customers and 99% of their staff are white.

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

And in a city as black as Laurel and a state as black as Mississippi, they can never find anyone black to do any of the work in these homes.

Why do you think that is?

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

I love the show, and there will always be an appeal for affordable real estate shows. I cannot watch the ones from California or Canada anymore. They have no bearing on middle America.

I’ve watched my last show where the crappy house, with its un permitted additions that is the size of my garage, costs 3x as much as any midwestern house has ever cost.

California in the same sentence as Canada! Boy oh boy, does California have so much in common with Canada when it comes to left wing ideology and cost of living, though California's weather is similar to Australia and not so much Canada.

Interestingly, the Anglo Canadian accent is also said to be most similar to the California accent out of any American accent. Not all Canadians say aboat the hoos.

I saw Home Town being played on a TV in a model home in Oklahoma. I actually thought the architecture in Laurel looked kind of like Oklahoma, almost Midwestern. My only impression of Mississippi was a two month summer internship around Biloxi and Slidell, the architecture there on the Gulf looked a lot more Southern, with the Acadian architecture, mansard roofs, roofs made of metal, and even some Spanish colonial houses thrown in.

[LocalGuy61]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

And in a city as black as Laurel and a state as black as Mississippi, they can never find anyone black to do any of the work in these homes.

How do you know that? Most of the actual work done in these homes is not shown on TV, so we viewers really don't know the racial make-up of the people doing the work.

[seashelly]

....and who cares just as long as the job gets done correctly. Don't get in the way of progress. They seem to be doing a great job cleaning up their town. I enjoy watching their on-air personalities too. Happy sorts.