The Gaineses also provide Open Water aluminum water-bottles for merchants to sell that are embossed with a message from Chip about plastic pollution that encourages people to recycle. Nearly everything at the Silos is Magnolia branded: hats, T-shirts, tote bags, mugs. "They thought of everything," one Magnolia staff member told me. AstroTurf covered the grounds, but the grass on the outer edges of the Silos is real so dogs have a place to go to the bathroom. A restored church sat proudly on a lawn alongside cottage boutiques, and almost all of the buildings were stark white, matching Joanna's signature style. Children played with balls in front of the famous Silos towers - one of which had been tagged with "C + J = 4 ever" - and others took to a miniature baseball field to pass the time while their parents shopped. I saw the Silos for myself in February, when mostly middle-aged, white couples, and young, mostly white families milled about, carrying ever-filling shopping bags. Later, in 2018, the Gaineses opened a restaurant, Magnolia Table, across town. With 11 stores, a coffee shop, a bakery, and over a dozen food trucks, the Silos is like a cross between an amusement park and a gift shop. It all culminated with the opening of the Silos in 2015: a brick-and-mortar location for fans to shop for their candles, gardening supplies, and furniture in downtown Waco. Magnolia Realty grew, they wrote multiple books, they released a furniture line with Target, and they renovated home after home. When "Fixer Upper" aired in 2013, it became an instant sensation, with 1.9 million people watching the pilot.ĭuring the show's run from 2013 to 2017, Chip and Joanna turned Magnolia into an empire. But their big break came in 2012 when an HGTV producer asked Joanna to consider filming a renovation series. They also started flipping houses at the same time, starting with their own home. They opened Magnolia Realty in 2003, and Chip and Joanna opened the original Magnolia Market the same year. It seemed like Waco just couldn't catch a break.Īfter they married, the Gaineses quickly became business owners. The explosive fight ended with nine dead, 20 wounded, and 177 people in police custody - and no convictions seven years later. Most recently, a 2015 biker shootout stained the city. Then, in 1993, America had a front-row seat to the bizarre 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidians cult compound it culminated in a fatal fire that killed 76 people and was later dubbed the Waco Massacre. Decades later, the city is still rebuilding. In 1953, an F-5 tornado killed 114, injured another 600, and destroyed dozens of buildings and homes. The organization also used the photos in its anti-lynching campaign. W.E.B Du Bois published photos of Washington's body in the NAACP's magazine. In 1916, a mob lynched and burned 17-year-old Jesse Washington in front of a crowd of 15,000 Waco residents - which was approximately half the town's population, The New York Times reported. Representatives for Chip and Joanna did not respond to Insider's request for comment on this story.Īlthough just 139,594 people live in Waco (as of July 2021), its reputation has historically rested on tragedies so horrible they garner nationwide attention. Instead, they're creating a homogenized utopia, catering to a smaller and smaller group that often sidelines or pushes out locals. But I found myself more absorbed by the city's unique places and culture than anywhere Chip and Joanna's fingerprints could be seen - the very places locals told me are slipping away as Magnolia takes over.Ĭhip and Joanna's goal has always been to lift up Waco, a small city with a complicated past. After being indoctrinated into Joanna Gaines' stylish designs through "Fixer Upper" and learning that tourism in Waco had quadrupled from 2014 to 2019, I figured the Silos and other Magnolia-owned properties in town must be worth the hype. When I came to Waco, I had expected to be impressed by the Magnolia empire. But the reality for residents is more complicated. Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM iStock Rebecca Zisser/Insiderįrom our television screens, Waco, Texas, looks like a small town on the precipice of rebirth.
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