HOME TOWN hosts Ben and Erin Napier started by helping their own little corner of Mississippi, and Ben still sounds surprised that the work has carried their television franchise all the way to Canada.
“This was never something that we even dreamed of, being on TV,” he told PEOPLE last week.
Now HOME TOWN TAKEOVER CANADA has brought that community-minded approach to Port Alberni, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. Renovation hosts Bryan and Sarah Baeumler lead the Canadian series, while the Napiers help launch the project as guests rather than taking charge of the whole makeover.
That change gave Ben room to enjoy the trip. He told PEOPLE that he joked about being on vacation when questions came his way, leaving the Canadian team to steer its own project.
The Napiers did more than admire the scenery, though. Their contributions included redesigning a community sign to reflect Port Alberni’s people and culture, according to the interview; Bryan and Sarah carried the larger effort through from beginning to end.
For the Baeumlers, the job meant balancing multiple renovations without forgetting that a real town — not an empty television set — surrounded them. Businesses still had customers to serve, and residents still needed the public spaces the crews were working to improve.
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“With one renovation, you have one set of moving parts. Here, we were balancing several projects, different needs, and a tight timeline,” Bryan and Sarah told PEOPLE.
The couple described juggling different projects, competing needs and a tight timeline. That scale made the assignment particularly challenging, they said, even as the chance to spotlight a Canadian community made it meaningful.
The City of Port Alberni’s premiere announcement put the production window at June 10 through Aug. 28. During that stretch, the hosts worked with residents, local leaders, business owners and other partners on improvements across the community.
Some of the most visible work centers on Harbour Quay, the waterfront gathering place that opened in 1984. The city’s project information outlined plans for a covered patio extension, additional outdoor seating and improved lighting around the Marine Building, with the aim of encouraging visitors to linger and support nearby businesses.
That focus fits the advice Erin shared in a separate House Beautiful interview: let residents tell their own story rather than turn a town into something it is not. The people already there supply its identity; the renovation work should serve them.
In their PEOPLE interview, Bryan and Sarah likewise emphasized Port Alberni’s pride in its history and local businesses. Their goal for the waterfront was to create places where people would stop, spend time and discover what the community already offered.
The series premiered Oct. 25 on HGTV in Canada, with Canadian streaming through Citytv+. The city also announced free community watch parties continuing on Sundays from Nov. 1 through Dec. 13, giving neighbors a way to watch the reveals together.
Ben’s unexpected television journey now reaches well beyond Laurel, Mississippi. In Port Alberni, the next chapter belongs to another couple — and to the residents whose hometown gives the show its reason to be there.
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