Discovery channel to feature Bessemer Friday

BESSEMER — Friday morning at 6 a.m. Bessemer will be featured on “Today in America” on the Discovery channel, which reaches 104 million households.

Bessemer’s spot is five minutes long, said city council member Al Gaiss, and the city’s intention in creating the spot was to attract people and businesses to the area to see what Bessemer and the surrounding area have to offer, especially to those sick of the rat race.

Mayor John Frello, former Chamber of Commerce president Glen Pavlovich, and business owner Robert Abelman are featured in the video. “They did a tremendous job,” said Gaiss.

The city spent about $19,000 producing the spot, with nearly half of the cost covered by local businesses, Gaiss said. Bessemer got to pick 15 different markets from a field of 60, and focused their marketing efforts both near and far, “wherever the rat race is going on,” said Gaiss.

After the spot airs, viewers have between six and eight weeks left of summer to come and check out the area, Gaiss said. A lot of people come only during winter, and the area has a lot more to offer, Gaiss said.

Gaiss said that a Bessemer school board member, Kim Wright, is from Dallas, Texas, and came up one summer to visit and discovered the price of homes in the area. He and his wife bought a home in Bessemer while still living in Dallas, and then were able to retire early, due to the lower cost of living in Bessemer.

The spot is not just about the city of Bessemer, Gaiss said, but speaks for the whole area, from Wakefield to Hurley. “We tried to stress our beautiful surroundings,” Gaiss said.