(gentle country music)
- Now, when I first came to Franklin, Tennessee,
I was a visitor, and I realized wow,
this is a great place to set a story.
Then now that I lived here, I realize that Franklin
is the intersection of a thousand stories.
It's your story.
It's my story.
And even all the way back to the Civil War days,
you can feel the fabric of story
in the buildings along Main Street.
I was inspired to write my book, The Bridge
because of the actual stores and street
in downtown Franklin.
It was incredible.
- Me and my family love Franklin, Tennessee.
I don't know of any other place like it.
It is small town, USA.
I'm a 10 minute drive int downtown Franklin.
Main Street, what a place.
And we got, obviously, the famous Franklin Theatre
that was going to be demolished,
and we resurrected that place.
A great place to do concerts, which I've been honored
to be a part of a few myself there.
- I'm Melinda Doolittle, and I'm from American Idol.
I love life, but what I love most about it
is coming home to Franklin, Tennessee.
- I, personally, like all the little boutiques,
all the little gift shops.
I'm all about going in and out,
making sure all the store owners are well.
I try to make it about them, and then I leave
with armloads of goodies.
- There's so much to do here.
We got antiques shops.
The people are great.
The restaurants are great.
I've done a lot of functions here.
We've got The Factory.
It's an amazing place.
- There's a lot of non-profit organizations in Franklin,
filled with people that really have a desire
to reach out into the other communities
to make the world a better place.
- The people in Franklin are kinda like none other.
You know?
There are a lot of people that are
in this entertainment business,
but we all want a place to call home,
and so it's just the homiest place ever.
- When we first moved here, the festivals are what drew us.
We'd go downtown for Dickens Festival, for the Pumpkin Fest,
and people would just be like they knew each other.
You felt like you were in this small town
or maybe transported back to a day decades ago.
- Hospitality has been premier here in the Franklin area.
My experience has been one of feeling as though I'm home,
like instantly.
I've only been here six years, but in those six years,
I've lived a whole life because opportunities abound.
- Like everything about Franklin makes me happy.
- You wanna visit Franklin, Tennessee.
There's no place like it.
Everybody, I'm Michael W. Smith.
- This is Karen Kingsbury.
- Dan Haseltine.
- Hi, I'm Melinda Doolittle.
- Hi, I'm Patsy Clairmont.
Y'all just come on in and we'll poor you some sweet tea.