■ REVOLUTION #MYSEARCY Searcy announced the winner of the Small Business Revolution competition. After a nearly four-month process of campaigning and voting, Searcy went from one of roughly 12,000 nominations in the Deluxe Corporation's SmallBusiness Revolution to the No.1 spot,winning $500,000 and a spot on season four of the Small Business Revolution Main Street Hulu reality TV show. The money won was used to revitalize six chosen local businesses. Thousands of Searcy residents and Harding students gathered at the George S.Benson Auditorium on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 to watch the live announcement. As anticipation built, severalcommunity leaders, including President Bruce McLarty,spoke at the beginning of the watch parry. McLartysaid students were energized and involved in the voting process, and SearcyMayor Kyle Osborne said he had never seen somany people get excited about one thing. Amy Burton, executive director of Main Street Searcy, a volunteer-based non-profit organization that works to preserve and enhance historic downtown Searcy, was highly involved in the SearcyRevolution from the beginning of rhe application process. "The reward is going to be so huge," Burton said. "There has been a fire in our community that we have never seenI.t makes and call this my hometown." Mat Faulkner, president and chief idea officer of Think Idea Studio and one of the main organizers of the SearcyRevolution, said the community of Searcybuilt up to that moment for four months. 301 "Everybody coming together and organizing this event [watch party] was the pinnacle for this whole process," Faulkner said. "We were ready. Just like the slogan says, Searcy was ready for a revolution." As Searcy was announced the winner, Amanda Brinkman, co-host of Small Business Revolution Main Street and chief brand and communications officer at Deluxe Corporation, walked on stage amid balloons and confetti to congratulate the crowd. "You have so much to be proud of because of the way you have rallied together in the last four months." Brinkman said. "You guys get to be an example to the rest of the world. Socongratulations. It's so great to be back home in Searcy." Many students were involved in the public voting process, promoting the competition and spreading the word to vote. Senior Carson Gentry frequently posted across different socialmedia platforms to enco urage more voting. "I was pretty confident that no matter what the choice was, we were going to end up with some sort of revolution," Gentry said. "I just feel like Searcyhas the momemtum to go forward becaus·e we're already a growing town." On March 22, 2019 during Beats & Eats in downtown Searcy, Brinkman and CoHost ofSmall Business Revolution Main StreeTt y Pennington announced Savor + Sip, Zion Climbing Center, Nooma, Whilma's Filipino Restaurant, El Mercado Cavadas and ARganic Woodwork as the six businesses who would receive the renovations on the show. story by Cassidy Ward originally published on The Linkon Feb. 27, 2019
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