By Bonnie Culverhouse

Retailers, restaurant owners and hostelers may want to be involved in a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Greater Minden Chamber of Commerce and Webster Parish Tourism officials will be on hand, along with other community officials, to talk about the expected upcoming onslaught of tourists following HGTV’s airing of Hometown Kickstart, featuring Minden.

“We don’t want to see local businesses run out of merchandise and have to close,” Mayor Terry Gardner said. “We want community leaders like at the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism, the museum, places like that to have spin off meetings with downtown merchants.”

Gardner said he spoke with the mayor of Wetumpka, Ala., where HGTV had a similar project last year. 

“He said they were not ready for what would happen after the series aired,” Gardner said. “Tourism increased 600 percent and sales taxes were up 300 percent.”

Thursday’s meeting will take place in council chambers at Minden City Hall.

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