Waco has the cure for the post Fixer Upper blues

Carla Pendergraft has a solution for fans who need a Fixer Upper fix after the final season of the home renovation show finishes airing in 2018: Make a trip to the stars’ hometown of Waco, Texas.

“The Gaineses always talk about how much they love Waco,” said Pendergraft, the marketing director for the Waco Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

HGTV introduced viewers to the quirky and talented Chip and Joanna Gaines in 2013. This week, the couple announced the upcoming fifth season of Fixer Upper, now HGTV’s most successful show ever, would be their last.

“We never could have imagined in a million years that God would’ve had this kind of a journey for Jo and I and our family and our beautiful business here in Waco,” Chip Gaines said in a video posted on his wife’s blog Tuesday.

Over the past few years, the Gaineses have leveraged their fame into a business empire, with books, a quarterly magazine, and a forthcoming line of home decor items at Target stores. After the show started, the couple bought property with a landmark pair of silos in Waco and turned it into Magnolia Market, a Fixer Upper Disneyland with a retail store, bakery, and outdoor gathering space.

“Right now they’re getting about 32,000 visitors a week to Magnolia Market,” Pendergraft said.

The Gaineses’ success has washed over Waco in waves. According to Pendergraft, tourist attractions such as the zoo and museums have seen a 20 percent increase in visitors since Fixer Upper first aired. A spring festival at Magnolia Market drew 70,000 people.

Fixer Upper came along right as a burst of economic growth hit the Interstate 35 corridor in Central Texas, and in Waco the Gaineses have become mascots of good fortune. Realtors told Pendergraft they sold houses to couples who first saw Waco on HGTV and then decided to relocate.

“They fall in love with the show and with Waco as depicted on the show,” she said.

It’s not just the Gaineses’ style that has attracted people to Waco, but their substance, too. The couple, who have four children, talk openly in the media about their Christian faith and how it drives their commitment to family.

“I think that there’s a hunger for that in America,” Pendergraft said. “I think people come here who are hungry for being able to espouse their faith and live in a community where you don’t have to be embarrassed to say, ‘Do you have a church home? I’d love to invite you to mine.’ … I think Chip and Joanna, by their values and by what they’ve talked about, have made that clear that that’s what they’re about, too.”

The final season of Fixer Upper premieres Nov. 28. A companion show called Behind the Design is also scheduled this fall, with more details on how Joanna Gaines decorates the homes renovated on Fixer Upper.

In theaters

Focus on the Family is screening a documentary about orphan care in Africa in theaters across the country Oct. 3-5. Mully tells the story of a Kenyan man whose family abandoned him as a child and who grew up to start a ministry that would help more than 10,000 street children.

“The film Mully shows, in a remarkable way, how the Lord can use imperfect clay pots like us to accomplish great—no, in this case astounding—things in this sin-scarred world, if we’re willing to make available to Him all that we have,” Eric Metaxas said on BreakPoint.

Coming to paper

The Babylon Bee, Christianity’s in-house satirical news site, announced this week plans to release a book next year. “How to Be a Perfect Christian is 208 pages of brand-new Bee material which will transform the sad excuse for a believer that you currently are into an absolutely Perfect Christian,” an announcement on its website read, which added, “This is not a joke.”

Often called The Onion for Christians, The Babylon Bee launched in 2016 and now racks up 3 million monthly unique visitors. The book comes out next May and is already available for pre-order.

Reality TV

The day after winning her sixth Emmy for starring in HBO’s Veep, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus learned she has breast cancer. The star announced her diagnosis Thursday on Twitter: “The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let’s fight all cancers and make universal health care a reality.”

HBO announced earlier this month that Veep’s upcoming season would be its last.