Hardin Local E39: Etown Tourism, Publix, Halloween Season
A first for the show: Elizabethtown Tourism's new executive director joins us all night. Plus Publix's first week, Halloween season, Green Bamboo, a faster housing market and the money move before house hunting.
What We Covered This Week
This one was a first. Elizabethtown Tourism had never been on Hardin Local Weekly before. This week its brand new executive director, Krysta Souleyrette, sat in with Rachel Brantingham for the whole night, in four parts woven between the host segments.
Rachel opened with the icebreaker and a question for herself: what is the one thing about living in Hardin County you cannot put in a real estate listing? Her answer set up the whole episode. When she asks people why they stayed here instead of moving back home, the answer is always the same: people here are more welcoming and kind than anywhere else they have lived. Then she brought in the person whose job is to make visitors feel that too. (Also from the icebreaker: Britten McDowell is officially anti pumpkin spice.)
From there: what tourism actually does for residents, the first week of Publix, a busy week ahead and the start of Halloween season, a date-night revisit to one of Etown's longest-running restaurants, a housing market that sped up when a lot of people expected it to stall, and the money move that should come before you ever look at a house.
Everything Happening This Week, in One Place
Election Interviews Have Started
Hardin Local's 2026 general election candidate interviews are underway. Every candidate on the November ballot was invited, and each one who signed up gets the same format: a live, one-on-one interview with questions sent ahead of time. Hardin Local does not endorse candidates.
The first session aired live on Friday, September 25, with five candidates: Travis Leffew (Magistrate District 4), Stan Holmes (Vine Grove City Council), Bryan "Cheese" Reesor (Elizabethtown City Council), Serenity Johnson (Radcliff City Council) and Jim Shaw (Elizabethtown City Council).
Next up: Tuesday, September 29, live at 2:00 PM Eastern, with eight candidates:
- 2:00 Josh "Big Josh" Lindblom, Jailer
- 2:25 Jerry Brown, Radcliff City Council
- 2:50 Robert Reynolds, Jailer
- 3:15 Chris Yates, Magistrate District 1
- 3:50 Patsy Whitehead, Magistrate District 3
- 4:15 Frederick Jerome Thomas, Magistrate District 6
- 4:40 Kristofor King, PVA
- 5:05 E. Spencer Keck, Magistrate District 3
Two more sessions follow on Friday, October 9 and Tuesday, October 13, both at 2:00 PM.
In This Episode
Etown Tourism's Krysta Souleyrette on What Tourism Does for the People Who Live Here
Krysta Souleyrette on Hardin Local
Elizabethtown Tourism's new executive director on the trail it paid to pave, the free sports gear sitting in the park offices, $376.7 million in visitor spending in 2025, SteelGrove Amphitheater, and the children's book she wrote that tourism gives away free.
Publix Is Open in Elizabethtown, and the Shopping Center Around It Is Filling In Fast
Nate's Business Buzz
Nate Bryan on Publix's first week, including a free upstairs deck most shoppers will never find, plus the signs going up for Beignets and Brew, Hotworx, Kilwins and Theology, and Fuel Fortress opening in the former Joann.
Spooky Moon Market, PGF Softball, 43 Halloween Events: Your Week in Hardin County
Hardin County This Week, with Jon O'Brien
Jon O'Brien's week ahead, led by the Spooky Moon Market at Pritchard Community Center, and then Jon interviews Nate about the Halloween season Hardin Local mapped out, county-wide.
Green Bamboo Earns Another Visit From The Experienced Eater
The Experienced Eater, Britten & Michele McDowell
Britten and Michele went back to an Elizabethtown institution for date night: wonton soup, egg roll canoes, house lo mein and a table full of entrees. Plus the panel's great debate: is your plate your plate?
Contract Activity Speeds Up in Hardin County, Even as Inventory Ticks to 4.3 Months
Hardin County Housing Market, with Rachel Brantingham
September 18 to 24: 31 new listings, 27 homes under contract and 19 closings. Rachel expected more of a slowdown than she got, and the $400,000 to $600,000 range, which sat near 10 months of inventory in August, is down to about 2.8.
Money Moves with G: Get Pre-Qualified Before You Start House Hunting
Money Moves with G, with Grafton Sizemore
Most first-time buyers start on Zillow and call an agent. Grafton Sizemore says the first call should be a lender, and explains what a pre-qualification actually looks at. Next week: pre-qualification versus pre-approval.
Episode Highlights
"I'm not from Elizabethtown, but I got here as quickly as I could." - Krysta Souleyrette, Elizabethtown Tourism
"That 376.7 million that I've been talking about is money that wouldn't have been generated otherwise." - Krysta Souleyrette, on visitor spending
"It's huge, it's nice, it's big." - Nate Bryan, on the new Publix
"It's like Pokemon. You've got to collect them all." - Nate Bryan, on counting the county's Halloween events
"I was surprised at how little impact it actually had. I expected to see more." - Rachel Brantingham, Housing Market
"Talk to a lender before you start looking for houses. You'll save yourself time, you'll save your realtor time, and you'll save yourself a lot of heartache." - Grafton Sizemore, Money Moves with G
Keep Hardin Local Going
Tell Us What the Sports Portal Is Missing
Rachel closed the show with a direct ask, so here it is again.
The high school sports portal at HardinLocal.com is live: scores, schedules and a free pick 'em contest for Hardin County teams. It is new, which means it is not finished.
"If you have not been to hardinlocal.com slash sports yet, go look at it and then tell us what is missing. We'll build it for you, and we would rather hear it straight from you guys." - Rachel Brantingham
One More Show for Your Sunday
If you like this one, we have another. Bourbon Local airs right after us, Sundays at 9 PM Eastern. Same crew running the boards, a completely different show.
This Week's Sponsor: The Boring Stuff That Eats Your Week
The same person who builds this show builds automated workflows for a living, and this week he took the sponsor slot himself. His example: a multi-location auto group, kept anonymous, that was spending 20 to 30 hours a week on title data entry and now spends two to three hours a week reviewing it. Call it a 90 percent cut in that labor, and the system has caught errors the manual process was missing, which Phil says matters more than the hours.
"A person still reviews everything. I don't build the systems that make the final call on their own." - Phil Taul
The front door is a paid Workflow Roadmap Session: ninety minutes together, then a written roadmap back within three business days covering what is worth automating, in what order, and what you should leave alone. It is $450, and if you decide to have him build something within 30 days, the $450 comes off the project.
There is no form. Get in touch at [email protected], tell him what your business is and what is eating your time, and if a session is not the right fit he will say so before you have paid anything.
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