Hardin Local E34: Meet Grafton & the Handoff
A new co-host, a big handoff, football's return, a Publix opening date, and a housing market getting more selective. Here's everything from this week's show.
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What We Covered This Week
Seven people at the desk this week, one more than usual, and the extra chair belonged to the person this whole episode was built around.
Rachel Brantingham spent the front half of the show building up to it, and then delivered: Grafton Sizemore, the Motto Mortgage loan officer she has called for real numbers on every housing update, is joining her as co-host, with his own segment, Money Moves with G, coming soon. The introduction doubled as something bigger. Phil Taul used the same conversation to tell the audience plainly that he and Scott Lucas are moving mostly behind the camera starting next week, as Hardin Local keeps adding shows faster than there are nights to run them. Nobody left. Nobody got fired. The seat just needed filling, and Phil said they went and got the right guy.
Around that centerpiece, the rest of the show ran full speed. Jon O'Brien opened football season with the one home game the county gets this week, plus a downtown planning meeting, a parade, and a community picnic all inside a few days. Nate Bryan finally had the answer to the question he says he gets asked more than any other: Publix has an opening date. Rachel's own housing numbers told a quieter story, a market that is slowing down and getting choosier at the same time. And Britten and Michele McDowell closed the hour with a genuine discovery in Radcliff, a taco trailer worth going out of your way for.
In This Episode
Hardin County This Week
Hardin County This Week — with Jon O'Brien
Football opens Friday, and John Hardin has the only home game in the county, hosting Hancock County at 7:30. Jon also has tonight's Downtown Master Plan Open House, Saturday's Heartland Homecoming Parade and St. James Community Picnic, and the Hardin County Bee School.
Nate's Business Buzz
Nate's Business Buzz
Publix finally has a date, Wednesday, September 23, at the Shops at Pear Orchard. Nate also covers Theology Skin Bar, a bungee fitness studio he tried himself, Off The Clock opening Friday above Social Food Hall, and the four tenants now leaving Mulberry Square.
Meet Grafton Sizemore + The Handoff
Grafton Sizemore on Hardin Local
Rachel introduces her new co-host, Motto Mortgage loan officer Grafton Sizemore, whose own segment, Money Moves with G, starts soon. In the same segment, Phil Taul announces that he and Scott Lucas are moving mostly behind the camera as Hardin Local grows.
Hardin County Housing Market
Hardin County Housing Market — with Rachel Brantingham
Days on market fell to 76, even as the pace of sales slowed and months of inventory rose to about 4.7. Rachel's read is that the market is getting more selective, not weaker, and the $400,000 to $600,000 tier tells a very different story than homes under $250,000.
The Experienced Eater
The Experienced Eater — Britten & Michele McDowell
Britten and Michele visit Guero's Salsa and More, a veteran owned taco trailer in Radcliff, for crispy chicken tacos with house fried shells, a 12 inch quesadilla, and a tres leches cake that ended in a fight over the last bite.
Also on HardinLocal.com This Week
The show is one hour. The reporting does not stop when the stream does. Three pieces from the last few days that belong next to this episode:
Civic coverage: Elizabethtown adopts its data center rules, 6-0. Our meeting report on Monday night's City Council session and a plain-language breakdown of what "accessory uses only" means for any future data center proposal in E'town. Both are built from the full meeting video, with a methodology note on how we produced them.
The Wawa spill, in the records. Four missing hours and an unapproved plan: what the state and local documents actually show about the Ring Road spill, and the questions that are still open.
Back to school: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Bullies. A field guide for Hardin County parents as the school year starts, covering the four excuses that keep bullying alive and the boring, powerful moves that end it.
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Episode Highlights
"So the seat next to Rachel opened up, and we went and got the right guy." — Phil, Creator
"There's guys out there, ladies out there, who have served for four years, and they have VA eligibility and don't even realize it." — Grafton Sizemore, Motto Mortgage
"That's not necessarily the picture of a weak market. It's the picture of a market becoming more selective." — Rachel, Host
"So the question I'd ask is, what's going on at Mulberry Square?" — Nate, Business News
"Your fail is that you didn't bring me my own cake." — Michele, The Experienced Eater
