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Hardin Local Weekly S2026E19: Small Business Week + Donato's One Year

National Small Business Week, Donato's Pizza Elizabethtown's one-year anniversary review, JD Sports and VisionWorks coming to Towne Mall, and Hardin County's most loaded Mother's Day weekend lineup.

Phil Taul

Phil Taul

— 3 min read
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Hardin Local Weekly S2026E19 hosts on stream — Small Business Week, Donato's Pizza one-year anniversary, and Mother's Day weekend events.

What We Covered This Week

National Small Business Week ran the show this week. Rachel Brantingham opened with the framing: "It is National Small Business Week — May 4 to May 10 — and we're really heavily leaning into it." And the leaning-in showed up everywhere: in Scott Lucas's three concrete asks (spend a dollar somewhere new, leave a Google review for a place you already love, tag the business when you visit), in Phil's Birdies and Burgers DSAH shoutout, in Jon's events list (a calendar that's mostly small businesses and non-profits putting themselves on the map), in Nate's Business Buzz (five distinct Hardin County retail and restaurant stories), and most pointedly in Britten and Michele McDowell's review of Donato's Pizza Elizabethtown on owner Phillip Justice's first-year anniversary.

There's no episode sponsor this week — and Rachel pitched that open slot live on-air at sign-off. "We are an episode sponsor away from a perfect Small Business Week conversation. If you've got a small business in Hardin County and you want a half-hour of your customer's attention every Tuesday at 1 PM — head to HardinLocal.com."

Plus an election coverage update: 24 candidate interviews are now done, with Phil's interview with Josh Callaway (incumbent State Rep District 10) airing live at 4 PM today. Booking is still open through Tuesday May 12 ahead of the May 19 primary.

In This Episode

Hardin County This Week: A Loaded Mother's Day Weekend, Free Shakespeare, and Two Voting Windows

Hardin County This Week — with Jon O'Brien

Jon O'Brien walked through one of the busier weeks on the May calendar — Mother's Day weekend (May 8–10) is loaded with brunch, a flower bar, free outdoor Shakespeare, the Etown Wine Fest, the Birdies and Burgers Golf Scramble for DSAH, and a Mother's Day lunch at J&H Farm and Winery. He also flagged the in-person excused absentee voting window at the Hardin County Clerk's office.

Read the full Events article →

Towne Mall Lands JD Sports + VisionWorks, Two New Restaurants in Two Weeks, Wawa E-Town Signs Up

Nate's Business Buzz

Nate Bryan broke five Hardin County stories: JD Sports and VisionWorks both joining Towne Mall, a German-American cafe and Sabor Cubano opening in two weeks, Papa John's #3 confirmed near Central Hardin, and Wawa progress on both the E-Town and Radcliff stores. The "the mall is dying" narrative is officially over.

Read the full Business Buzz article →

Hardin County Housing Market: 76 Days on Market, 3.3 Months Inventory, Firmly Seller-Leaning

Hardin County Housing Market — with Rachel Brantingham

Rachel Brantingham's weekly market read: 76 DOM (down from 100 in January), 3.3 months of inventory, firmly seller-leaning. The under-$250k tier is the hottest in the county at 71 actives. The luxury tier ($800k+) sits at 13 actives but with a 122-day average DOM that masks much longer marketing periods. Source: Heart of Kentucky MLS.

Read the full Housing Market article →

Donato's Pizza Elizabethtown: One Year In, Owner-Operated, and the Hot Honey Pepperoni Lives Up

The Experienced Eater — Britten & Michele McDowell

Britten visited Donato's Pizza Elizabethtown on owner Phillip Justice's first-year anniversary, ordered everything Phillip recommended (Hot Honey Pepperoni and the cinnamon bread), and turned the segment into the soul of the Small Business Week conversation: a franchise becomes a real small business when the owner is in the building every day.

Read the full Experienced Eater review →

Episode Highlights

"Nobody takes care of a business like the owner. When you have the owner working in the business every day, the level of growth is different. That's the drive. That's the difference."
— Britten McDowell, on Donato's Pizza Elizabethtown
"Spend a dollar somewhere local you wouldn't normally go. Write a Google review for a small business you already love. Tag the business when you visit. Three asks, one week."
— Scott Lucas, on National Small Business Week
"This information creates knowledge, and that knowledge turns into real-time ability to make decisions that affect your family."
— Rachel Brantingham, on the housing market update
"Tim Aulbach has done such a great job turning the mall around. Five-plus new tenants in under two years. The 'mall is dying' narrative — that's done."
— Nate Bryan, on the Towne Mall double-drop
"If somebody's still trying to figure out a Mother's Day plan — J&H Farm and Winery on Sunday is the one. Beautiful atmosphere. Gets mom out of the kitchen."
— Jon O'Brien, on the week's events

Watch + Listen

📺 Full episode video — https://www.facebook.com/reel/1513249057058425/ 🎙️ Spotify — Hardin Local Weekly 🍎 Apple Podcasts — Hardin Local Weekly 📻 iHeartRadio · Amazon Music 📅 This week's events calendar — https://philtaul.github.io/hardin-local-this-week/ 🌐 All episodes + show notes — HardinLocal.com

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