The celebs of Maine Cabin Masters might have change into TV personalities by chance — however drawing viewers and guests to the area they love has all the time been finished with intention and coronary heart.

Their hit Magnolia Community present — which follows contractor Chase Morrill, his decorator sister Ashley, her husband, Ryan Eldridge, and their childhood mates Matt “Dixie” Dix and Jared “Jedi” Baker as they renovate rustic trip cabins — has made their hometown of Manchester, Maine (pop. 2,500) into Vacationland’s latest hotspot.

Followers are making the pilgrimage from across the nation and overseas to go to their Kennebec Cabin Firm headquarters, retail retailer and adjoining bar and music venue, The Woodshed — and hopefully, to catch a glimpse of the celebrities themselves, who are sometimes on web site.

“They arrive from throughout. We’ve seen Alaska plates, Hawaii,” Ryan, 48, tells PEOPLE on this week’s situation.

“A month in the past there was a bus of girls from Africa, Brazil, three or 4 totally different locations,” provides Jedi, 44. “That they had gotten collectively to come back in hopes of seeing considered one of us.”

Final summer time the gang hosted 4 lobster bakes there with 350 tickets every that each one offered out in a day. Throughout the occasions, every of the celebrities was stationed at a person sales space with a Sharpie in hand, able to signal autographs and take selfies for a line of followers that stretched down the block.

Followers are even shopping for properties within the space or relocating there full-time, the celebrities share. (They at the moment obtain greater than 100 functions from owners who desire a renovation every month.) “It is unattainable to observe Maine Cabin Masters with out dreaming about having this solid remake a lake home only for you,” Chris Dorsey of Dorsey Photos, the present’s manufacturing firm, tells PEOPLE.

The Cabin Masters’ reputation has been a significant boon for Manchester and the encompassing cities, that are positioned about an hour north of Portland and inland from the stalwart vacationer locations on Maine’s well-known shoreline.

Guests “come to see our place after which we ship them all the way down to get an ice cream at one of the best place in Maine, Fielder’s Alternative, or they go get a bottle of wine at The Lighthouse [restaurant],” says Ashley, 47. (Different native recs from the celebrities embrace Manchester Meats and Pat’s Pizza.)

Their subsequent native challenge, already underway, is reworking a former lumber yard into their official workshop. It is going to be a hub for Kennebec Cabin Co.’s tasks and open to different tradespeople locally who want area to work. 

The native Mainers have additionally made a degree to highlight native companies and artisans on the present. And only a cameo usually has a long-lasting influence.

Mainely Handrails, positioned in close by Fairfield, “appeared on considered one of our episodes early on. That they had 4 staff and now he is up over 20,” says Chase, 45. After Wayne Village Pottery was featured, their hand-carved loon whistles instantly offered out. Now they promote them on the Cabin Masters’ retailer.

They’re additionally branching out with their very own particular person companies. Ashley simply launched a house items firm, Rustic County, and Dixie is opening up a ski tuning store, Dixie’s Tune Shack, this fall. 

However the mates aren’t simply constructing their very own empire, they’re giving again to the native establishments that assist their neighborhood. They constructed an arts and crafts constructing for the native YMCA camp and a clubhouse for the Adaptive Out of doors Schooling Middle in close by Brunswick.

Their optimistic influence is a component of a bigger shift within the space, they are saying.

“For a very long time, younger folks have been leaving Maine, graduating highschool and could not wait to choose a university out of state. However now individuals are beginning to keep and making good lives right here,” says Ryan. “New eating places are opening up, the native theater was redone. It truly is altering rather a lot, and I’m proud to say we have now had one thing to do with it.”

Requested what it’s like to observe their hometown’s renaissance, Chase explains, “I believe it’s not a reawakening, however a realization of what folks have. They’re getting again to roots, again to household, again to nature. I believe that’s a part of why we’ve been so profitable, as a result of everyone longs for that.”

Particular episodes of Maine Cabin Masters are airing now on Magnolia Community and season 9 premieres Oct. 23.