Imagine visiting the town of the hit TV show Gilmore Girls. Take a stop at Mrs. Patty’s or have a Friday night dinner at Richard and Emily’s. Grab a coffee at Luke’s and even get to meet him! This year, downtown Brighton, Michigan, transformed into Stars Hollow, the fictional setting of Gilmore Girls. The event drew a whopping 60,000 fans eager to experience the magic and charm of the show’s quaint small-town life.
Kathleen London, owner of London Beauty, and Laura Boote, social media content creator, didn’t know what they were getting into during the fall of 2024. Both are fans of the hit 2000s show Gilmore Girls. They made their hopes and the dreams of many others come true. They created Destination Stars Hollow as a way for fans to be able to experience the show in real life.
In 2024 London and Boote brought the event to life. Expecting a few thousand, they had no idea 40,000 fans were going to come explore the town. Dads dressed up as Luke in flannel and backwards baseball caps. Moms and daughters donned Lorelai and Rory’s dance marathon dresses, while others sported classic Kirk’s T-shirts with the fan-favorite line, ‘Babette ate oatmeal’.Fans attended the many events the town offered. This includes a classic Town Hall meeting, a Luke look-alike contest for the dads, a knit-a-thon, a basket bidding contest, and so many more Gilmore traditions.
London and Boote brought back the event again in 2025, striving to make it even more of a success than last Fall. But this year, they promoted the event very differently from before. Because of the surprise attendee amount last year brought, they did very minimal social media posts and instead decided to rely on word of mouth, hoping many would return from last year and Brighton wouldn’t be overwhelmed with fans. They hoped to keep the small town charm and not overcrowd the town. Despite their efforts, the town saw around 60,000 fans decked out in merch, excited to explore the town they’ve only dreamed of visiting.
Around 40 stores participated in the event and decorated their storefronts as a different place or scene from the show. Lynn’s on First transformed into Luke’s, Dandelions bookshop became the Stars Hollow Bookstore, and Oh My Lolli! changed into Taylor’s Olde Fashioned Soda Shoppe. Because of all of the fans Brighton saw a much larger population of customers in stores. This meant that stores saw record-breaking sales, and some even saw over double the profit earned on their best day.
Meet and greets were also offered with some of the actors. Tickets were sold out for both meet and greets with actor Scott Patterson, who played the diner owner, Luke, and actor Rose Abdoo, who played the town mechanic.
Destination Stars Hollow was once again a huge success for London, Boote, and the town. The town profited immensely and is happy with the outcome of the event and fans are already eagerly anticipating the event’s return and hoping it will become an annual tradition.
