Growing Grapevine

You've met the "elves" who decorate Main Street (Season 1, Episode 1)... now meet their supervisors. From planning events that draw massive crowds to the importance of every little detail, here's what makes Main Street so magical during the 40-day Christmas Capital of Texas activation.

What's on the agenda:

00:00-02:28... who's in charge here?
02:29-05:25... the party (planning) never ends
05:26-8:12... "aiming for Disney" revisited
8:13-10:34... getting the little things right
10:35-13:00... the "Leslie Knope" mentality
13:01-21:18... the data driving this year's revised festivities
21:19-25:03... how events and activations affect business owners
25:04-28:06... deck the halls with cute nostalgia
28:07-30:01... nowhere to go but up

Every day, you interact with countless miles of unseen pipes, wires, and utilities that create the illusion of effortless convenience. But behind every charged phone, running sink, and Wi Fi router, there's a team of engineers working to keep your life going smoothly. Here in Grapevine, those folks have an extra layer of challenge: part of the City is over 100 years old. And much of it predates modern computers.

Here's the roadmap for our exploration of the unseen systems that support our community...


00:00-03:35... meet our experts
03:36-06:20... what does "civil engineering" actually mean?
06:21-10:29... unique utilities, hand-drawn plans, and other historical hiccups
10:30-14:21... modern solutions to age-old questions
14:22-19:24... water, water everywhere
19:25-23:28... weathering winter storm Uri
23:29-28:20... making the most of a global shutdown
28:21-29:59... outtro and a Bonus Fun Fact

Understanding the Historic District starts with understanding local history, so we asked Larry Groebe – Communications Director for the Grapevine Historical Society – to walk us through the early decades of this community. As he breaks down the decades that defined Grape Vine (and, later, Grapevine), we'll discover which things have changed, which almost weren't preserved, and which have been part of Grapevine's DNA from the beginning.

More importantly, we'll hear why the City still feels authentic after 180 years of change. 

00:00-02:41... a quick tour of the Historic District.
02:42-04:17... the history that almost wasn't.
04:18-06:23... meet our resident expert.
06:24-09:28... a Destination, even in the 1920s.
09:29-12:59... Main Street through the decades.
13:00-15:23... the very first businesses.
15:24-18:32... early innovators - Wilhoite's Garage.
18:33-24:32... history uncovered - Bermuda Gold & Silver.
24:33-27:57... the people who saved our City('s history).

Before we piece together the story of Grapevine's Historic District, we'll need to stop in and see the puzzle masters at The Grapevine Escape! The married duo behind one of Main Street's most popular entertainment venues has much to say about what makes this area special, and their unique experience encapsulates the spirit of the community itself.

Join us as we plot our Escape from Grape Vine!

The rundown:

00:00-02:41... Intro (with apologies to John Carpenter)
02:42-06:18... what's an escape room and why do we have one?
06:19-09:46... born on a bar room napkin
09:47-13:15... a narrative-driven, player-friendly approach
13:16-18:31... staying nimble and forging partnerships through market upheaval
18:32-23:11... what makes The Grapevine Escape special?
23:12-27:28... what comes next?

This season, you're getting an up-close look at Grapevine's Historic District, from its 19th-century origins to several 21st-century landmarks. That's a big task, so you'll want to start with a touch of caffeine.

In this special National Coffee Month episode, we're talking to four independent coffee house operators in Grapevine to see why they set up shop here... and what coffee tells us about the human experience.

Take the coffee shop recommender quiz: choosegrapevinetx.com/news-center/quiz

The rundown:
00:00-04:11... what our coffee says about us
4:12-10:16... Buon Giorno, your friendly neighborhood coffee house
10:17 - 16:39... the mad scientists at Brew & Batter
16:40 - 23:53... RE:Defined, where everybody knows your name
23:54- 29:42... honoring every guest at Pax & Beneficia
29:43 - 35:00... how coffee explains the world

'Growing Grapevine' returns with our biggest season yet! We're going way back to the early years of Grapevine to explore how and why our Authentic Historic Downtown came to be, then talking to the folks shaping developments and thriving in storefronts there today. 

We've packed everything from the Cotton Belt Rail line to your favorite restaurant on Main Street into twelve half-hour(ish) episodes, published once a month right here.

Our yearlong exploration of Grapevine Mills ends with a festive excursion on one of the City's most well-known attractions: the North Pole Express. But this themed train ride is more than one of 1,400 events in the Christmas Capital of Texas. It's also an important resource for one very important organization working to welcome new residents and economically disadvantaged families to Grapevine.

Our ongoing tour of Grapevine Mills dives deeper into the shopping center than ever before, bypassing iconic destination retail and entertainment offerings to drop in on an area few guests ever see: a fully functional police substation right on site! Hear from officers who patrol and train on the grounds (and the management who are thrilled to host them, even if a few TVs are harmed in the process) in this, the penultimate episode of 'Growing Grapevine,' Season 2.

The next stop on our grand tour of Grapevine Mills comes with polished wood floors and family entertainment aplenty! Join us as we examine the public-private partnership that turned a JC Penny Outlet into a service for residents all across Dallas-Fort Worth. Fieldhouse USA solved a few problems for Grapevine's award-winning Parks and Recreation Department... including one massive expansion you'll never see coming.

Grapevine, Texas is synonymous with dining, retail, and entertainment. But one of the City's fastest-growing companies is actually an unlikely tech startup: Sera Systems, a software developer serving technicians in the plumbing and HVAC space, is a multi-million-dollar publicly traded company with an unassuming headquarters just off Main Street. In this episode, our tour of Grapevine Mills pauses for a bathroom break so that we can interview the entrepreneur behind Sera and its sister company/beta testing field, BillyGo. You won't want to miss the story behind this unlikely pairing of pipes and circuits!