Shelley Faulkner celebrates alongside her husband, Mat Faulkner (right) after learning Searcy won $500,000 and will be featured in the reality show Small Business Revolution - Main Street. Mat Faulkner was the master of ceremonies at Tuesday's announcement at Harding University’s Benson Auditorium. ( Josh Snyder )

Residents in Searcy who gathered Tuesday night are celebrating after hearing their city was selected to be the focus of a streaming series’ upcoming season, as well as the recipient of $500,000.

Searcy was one of six finalists in a competition to win a $500,000 “marketing and business transformation” and to be featured in the fourth season of Small Business Revolution - Main Street. The city learned of its victory during a watch party at Harding University.

Small Business Revolution is a reality show starring Amanda Brinkman, Ty Pennington and experts from small-business marketing company Deluxe Corporation. In the show, Brinkman, Pennington and their team work with a different small town each season, providing marketing advice and other support to business owners in that community.

In its first three seasons, Small Business Revolution visited Wabash, Ind.; Bristol Borough, Pa. and Alton, Ill. Searcy will be the focus of the show’s fourth.

The race to become the top choice for this season’s show began in the fall, when roughly 12,000 separate nominations were put forward, many by community leaders, according to a news release by Deluxe. Stephanie Mann, a spokeswoman for the company, said she believes this is the largest number of nominations the corporation has received since Small Business Revolution began.

In November, the show’s team visited their top 10 choices, which included Searcy. The small town endured in the competition, making its way to the top six. Typically, Mann said, the team narrows the competition to a top five, but they couldn’t bring them themselves to eliminate so many.

“They’re always incredible,” Mann said. “But they were just so incredible and people really pulled out all the stops for our visits. And so the Deluxe team was only able to narrow it down to a top six.”

At one point, Searcy lead the vote tally, which began Feb. 12 but dropped to the No. 2 slot the following Monday, the day before voting ended. This led to a “tremendous push” in calling for people’s votes, Amy Burton, executive director of Main Street Searcy, said in the final hours before polls closed.

“$500,000 is a shot in the arm for a small town,” she said.

Mann, too, said she enjoyed watching as the results played out, with communities rallying together to earn votes.

“Things were changing within hours,” Mann said. “It was fun to watch.”

After voting ended Feb. 19, residents in Searcy had to wait a full week before hearing tonight’s announcement. Mann said she is excited to see what the upcoming season, with Searcy at its center, will bring.

“We’re really looking forward to the biggest season yet.”

Viewers can watch Small Business Revolution - Main Street on Hulu, YouTube and SmallBusinessRevolution.org

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.