Port Alberni to star in Home Town Takeover Canada

Port Alberni to star in Home Town Takeover Canada

Published 2:35 pm Friday, June 12, 2026

People cheer at Port Alberni’s Harbour Quay as the city was announced as the first town to be featured on HGTV’s Home Town Takeover Canada. Cranes raised a large banner behind the stage as the announcement was made. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

Home Town Takeover Canada hosts Bryan and Sarah Baeumler and Home Town Takeover U.S. hosts Ben and Erin Napier applaud as a massive banner is unveiled following the announcement that Port Albenri will be featured as Home Town Takeover Canada’s first city. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

People cheer and applaud after it’s announced that Port Alberni will be featured on Home Town Takeover Canada’s first season. The show will revitalize community spaces, homes and businesses in the city. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

Hometown Takeover Canada hosts Bryan and Sarah Baeumler (left) stand on stage alongside the creators of the show in the U.S. Erin and Ben Napier (right) on stage at Harbour Quay. At the event the four hosts announced Port Alberni will be the first town featured in Home Town Takeover Canada. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

People hold signs at Port Alberni’s Harbour Quay for what they thought would be a rally to further the application for Home Town Takeover, but turned out to be the announcement that the show will be featuring Port Alberni. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

During a brief pause to allow the production team to do work, Councillor Charles Mealey and Mayor Sharie Minions took dad jokes and puns from the crowd gathered at Port Alberni’s Harbour Quay. Not long after the pause it was announced Port Alberni will be featured on Home Town Takeover Canada. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

A cameraman from the Home Town Takeover Canada crew films Coun. Charles Mealey ahead of the announcement that Port Alberni has been chosen for Home Town Takeover Canada. People will see camera crews around town as different spaces, homes and businesses get revitalized as part of the show. (Austin Kelly/Alberni Valley News)

Port Alberni was selected to be the first city featured in Home Town Takeover Canada.

On June 9 the city asked people to gather at Harbour Quay for a last push to convince HGTV to select Port Alberni for show which will revitalize and renovate community spaces, homes and businesses.

What many people didn’t expect was to see the hosts of the show, as well as the original American version, take the stage. They revealed Port Alberni was selected and the crowd gathered broke out into cheers.

“I did see some people in the grocery store and I had to fib and say I wasn’t here and it was the hardest day of my life,” said Sarah Baeumler, one of the hosts of the Canadian version of the show.

“We’re genuinely excited to meet everybody in town and get to work and help you to help yourselves and improve the town,” said Bryan Baeumler, the other host who will be spending in Port Alberni as the show is filmed. “We’ve heard so many great things about the community of Port Alberni. The people here, that is your best asset. But you’ve also got a pretty beautiful, incredible part of the world that you live in.”

Co-hosts of the original American version of the show, Ben and Erin Napier, made their first trip to Canada for the announcement. Erin described Port Alberni as magical and said whoever called it the worst place to live in Canada is wrong, referencing a magazine ranking from 2014.

Filming began the week the announcement was made and will go on through summer as the HGTV team renovates different parts of Port Alberni and shares stories of the town.

Mayor Sharie Minions said after the announcement that she thinks Port Alberni was chosen because it’s an authentic community.

“We don’t only have natural beauty, and we of course have that in spades,” she said. “But we have stories to tell and I think that’s maybe the most important piece. We’ve been through a lot of hardship and we have, every single time, banded together and come out stronger. And I think that is what makes Port Alberni so authentically unique.”

The mayor said it’s a great opportunity to improve the city and share stories on a national stage. She also said it could give the city a longer-lasting boost from the tourism it will generate.

“I have talked to mayors and communities from prior seasons and they have said money can’t buy this opportunity. The tourism that comes with it is just incredible,” she said.

While on stage, Minions and Councillor Charles Mealey had to wait as the HGTV team got ready for production. Rather than step off the stage the duo held an “open mic” for puns and dad jokes from the crowd, something that Minions said contributes to the city’s authenticity.

Before it was announced that Port Alberni was selected, Chief Councillor Ken Watts from the Tseshaht First Nation said Port Alberni is more than just a community with a heart.

“We come together through the challenging times like the wildfire. You walk with us on Sept. 30 and we all celebrate that this is an amazing city. Not just because we’re the salmon capital of the world but we also have the best lake in all of British Columbia, all of Canada, Sproat Lake,” Watts said. “It’s because of you. It’s because each and every one of you from our children to the elders in our community, to all of you, that make this community amazing.”

Hupacasath Chief Councillor Brandy Lauder said she’s honoured to welcome HGTV into the community.

“I’m so honoured right now to welcome HGTV and the rest of Canada who sit there every day in their homes and get to see this wonderful, wonderful valley of ours,” Lauder said. “I want to thank you for showing up and cheering on Port Alberni (in) our small little valley, we all work together.”

Jolleen Dick, the CEO of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce, said she’s also excited for what the show will mean for the community.

“Our community definitely earned this and deserves this. We’ve been through so much so I can’t wait to see the transformation and to show Port Alberni to the world,” Dick said. “This is great for business. Great for tourism.”

Dick also pointed out Port Alberni isn’t a stranger to being a filming destination, with movies like Harmonia and One Mile and its sequel filmed at locations around town.

While the locations that will be renovated have yet to be announced, filming has begun and people will start to see some changes around town as the HGTV designers and developers get to work on revitalizing Port Alberni.

The show is being brought to Port Alberni through a partnership between HGTV and Rogers Sports and Media.