Looks like your best bet to find a love that lasts is going to be in Winterset. The home of covered bridges was ranked as the most likely city in Iowa where a Hallmark movie might be set.
Think of those classics you might've seen: a worn-down, big city girl parks her car at the corner of her small town Main Street. She's walking by the bakeries, the bookstores, the cafes she used to shop. And bam! She accidentally runs into the hottest plaid-wearing man she's ever seen. And right on cue: snow starts falling. Ooh la la!
And that picture-perfect fantasy could happen right here in Winterset.
What makes a city a good setting for a Hallmark Christmas movie?
To get that picture-perfect moment in real life, you have to curate the vibes a little. When the Action Network, a sports-betting media platform, was choosing what factors would influence the rankings, it ultimately chose four Hallmark traits.
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What makes Winterset the best city in Iowa for a Hallmark movie?
"Winterset feels like a classic Midwestern holiday romance: historic bridges, brick storefronts, and a downtown that looks made for twinkling lights and chance encounters," Action Network researcher Kathy Morris wrote in a news release.
And the city has already been the setting for one romantic film, "The Bridges of Madison County." Directed by Clint Eastwood, the movie tells the tale of two soulmates who met too late.
The city's average of 5 inches of snow in December makes it enough for "festive scenes," but not overwhelming, according to the Action Network. It also called Winterset's population (5,353 in the 2020 census) "perfectly sized."
There's definitely love blossoming under those covered bridges.
How likely is Hallmark to actually film a Christmas movie in Winterset?
At the risk of ruining the Christmas spirit, the "implied probability" that a Hallmark movie would actually happen in Winterset is 1.8%, according to Action Network. The top-ranking town — Puyallup, Washington — sits at 5.4%.
The site also ranked Maquoketa, Urbandale, Oskaloosa and Iowa Falls as good options.
So to all you hopeless romantics, if you're trying to engineer a meet-cute in town, maybe try a different approach. Just don't go kissing any frogs.
Has a Hallmark movie been set in Iowa before?
At least one Hallmark Christmas movie has been set in Iowa.
"Christmas in Homestead" was released in 2016. The film featured Taylor Cole playing Jessica, an actress who arrives in "the Christmas-obsessed" town of Homestead in the Amana Colonies to shoot a holiday-themed movie. She falls in love with Matt (Michael Rady), the town's mayor, an innkeeper and single dad.
While set in Iowa, the movie was filmed in Dahlonega, Georgia, according to IMDb.
Lucia Cheng is a service and trending reporter at the Des Moines Register. Contact her at [email protected] or 515-284-8132.