Hallmark’s 2018 summer movie, Season for Love, will definitely leave you craving some delicious BBQ. But you’ll also be wanting to visit the charming town where the delightful storyline takes place. The movie is re-airing on Saturday, June 5, at 1 p.m. Eastern. Read on to learn more about the town that stood in for Red Rock, Texas, along with a tragedy that just recently happened in the real Red Rock and how the town is pulling together to weather the storm.
The Movie Was Filmed in Ontario Even Though It Takes Place in Red Rock, Texas
Season for Love (originally called A Sweet Taste for Love) was filmed in Canada. One of the main locations was Port Perry in Ontario, which was turned into Red Rock, Texas for the movie’s downtown scenes. There is a Red Oak, Texas, in real life, but it’s not where this movie was actually filmed.
Instead, much of the movie was filmed in Port Perry in Canada. Port Perry is part of the Township of Scugog.
Port Perry is northeast of Toronto with a population of almost 9,500. It’s a known tourist destination with a Victoria-era downtown that is absolutely perfect for the movie. The town has lots of festivals in the summer, including the Highland Games, the Dragon Boat Races, and an annual Labour Day weekend festival that’s been ongoing for 150 years.
Hallmark filmed the movie in downtown Port Perry on June 19 and June 20. Most of those scenes were on Queen Street from John Street to Water Street, Herrington’s reported. Downtown businesses weren’t disrupted during the filming and business was able to continue as usual.
Here’s a post from the Port Perry BIA about the filming:
Port Perry can be a great place to visit. Shortly after the movie filmed in the area, the downtown shops had a Moonlight & Martinis event, which featured martini samples, special signature martinis from downtown restaurants, prizes, and lots of shopping opportunities until 11 p.m. that night. Sounds like fun.
While filming, Autumn Reeser stayed at The Piano Inn and Cafe, which was also the site of some of the filming in Port Perry. The Piano Inn and Cafe was transformed into Jo & Ray’s BBQ Restaurant.
The Piano Inn and Cafe was completely transformed for the filming — even more than the owners originally anticipated. Even their sign was taken down for the film. For part of the filming, guests could still eat in the cafe, but on other days the cafe was completely shut down for filming. Here are some posts on Facebook from The Piano Inn about the event.
Here’s another photo:
The Ridges Tack Shop was also the site of some filming for the movie.
Here are some more fun photos of Port Perry being used for scenes in the movie:
By the way, if the scenes of this movie look familiar, it might be because a few years earlier, scenes from Hemlock Grove were also filmed in Port Perry. Downtown Port Perry was transformed in 2012 to look like Hemlock Grove in Pennsylvania. People of Earth was also filmed in Port Perry.
Red Rock, Texas, Was Hit By a Tornado in 2021 & the Town Raised More than $18K to Help Repair the General Store
Yes, a Red Rock, Texas does actually exist. It’s a tiny community in Bastrop County, Texas. This town’s name came from the red rock used in building the chimney of the first settler James Brewer’s house in the early 1950s, according to BastropTexas.net. It was an oil-drilling town in the 1920s, but there was no accompanying oil boom. The population of the town usually bounces between 100 and 250.
In late May 2021, Red Rock General Store suffered major damage when a tornado hit the small town.
The store not only suffered extensive damage to the roof, but it lost inventory too.
Despite the damage, the store still served people from the small town.
Here’s a look at damage in the small town.
The disaster happened just a few days before the store’s 25th anniversary, with the building itself being over 100 years old. Because of how hard business was during the pandemic, the business had to drop their insurance. They wrote on GoFundMe: “We’ve been doing our best to stay afloat and keep serving our community, but with larger, brand-name corporate stores moving in and more competition in the area, it’s gotten harder and harder for our small family business to survive.”
More than $18,000 has been raised on GoFundMe to save the store.
Red Rock is about 12 miles away from Bastrop, Texas, which also boasts a really cute downtown.
Bastrop is very close to Austin, Texas.
Many Towns in Texas Offer that Small-Town Charm
If you want to get a similar charming small-town downtown feeling in the actual state of Texas, try visiting downtown Waxahachie’s Historic Square. The town is actually right next door to Red Oak, Texas (not to be confused with the movie’s Red Rock, Texas) and can give you a similar vibe.
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