Its longtime grocery store has closed and its aging school is due to be shut down, but Evans City residents see beauty in the borough — and want others to as well.

A group of residents submitted a video application to HGTV to be part of its “Hometown Takeover” show, which aims to put a new face on small-town communities.

According to HGTV, three criteria must be met for a town to be considered: It must have fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, homes with “great architecture longing to be revealed,” and a Main Street area in need of a makeover.

Evans City residents worked to make a 12-minute video, touring the borough and interviewing people who spoke of their favorite parts of the town. The video highlighted the borough’s history, including its role in the 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead,” parts of which were shot in and around the borough.

“Evans City is the birthplace for modern horror films,” said Dan Bolena, who worked to create and submit the video application to the television network.

Bolena said the borough has a sizeable amount of potential from an economic standpoint. He said the town’s location, on Route 68 between Zelienople and Butler, makes it a ripe spot for stores to open along the state highway. According to the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department, eastbound Route 68 saw more than 4,000 cars per day over an 11-day span in October,

He thinks a makeover of the town could provide a reason for passersby to stop in the borough and enjoy a dinner or buy some groceries before getting home in the evening.

“What we’re trying to get out of it is renewal, a way to make people stop,” he said. “We have the traffic, but they just aren’t stopping.”

Bolena said the closing of Viola’s Market, the town’s longtime grocery store, in 2019 was a major loss. It also gave residents a reason to keep fighting for the borough’s future, he said.

“We’re trying to not be one of those towns that just blows away in the wind,” he said. “We’re small, but we don’t go away easy.”