HOUMA, La. (KLFY)— The area of downtown Houma was used for much of the filming of the movie, ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, the film that put the city on the map.

Last year, local buildings in Historic Downtown Houma were transformed to look like an early-60s set for the national movie, Where the Crawdads Sing.”

Tara Morvant, Communications & Marketing Manager with Explore Houma, says both locals and tourists alike have visited Houma to see where much of the movie was filmed. She says any Google search of the movie and the filming location, the city of Houma shows up everywhere.

“During the filming process, we saw a lot of locals going to our downtown to kind of do a contrast of modern day Main Street versus what it would look like in the ’60s and then lately we’ve been having some visitors who have seen the movie and loved it and want to see what Houma looks like in real life,” says Morvant.

The movie included many extras from the bayou country including one Houma native, Summer Blanchard. “I got on set for 6 a.m. every single day. We were there for about 12 hours. From there, they do hair and makeup. We put on a costume and then we work for about five hours, have lunch, and then work for about another five hours and then we do it all over again the next day. I’ve been walking up and down this street ever since I was born basically and it was really cool to see an area I know so well turn into this giant movie set,” says Blanchard.

Brian Waitz is a local photographer from Houma and was front and center witnessing the filming production.

“It’s really cool that when they advertise for the movie coming out, the first picture they show is actually Downtown Houma right where it all happened. It was so much fun to see all of the people come to Houma and to see all of the old cars,” says Waitz. “Little ole’ Houma on the big screen at a national level so hopefully that brings people to come and see our area, the Bayou Country.”

One of Downtown Houma’s buildings that was transformed for the fictional village of Barkley Cove in ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ was La Boujee Boutique. Owner Lauren Rebstock says her business was changed almost overnight.

“When they came in and they started knocking everything back and building walls and putting all the hardware store together, it was miraculous. I’m telling you it was like we left and within 24 hours of it being a boutique, all of a sudden, it was this hardware store. The magic of Hollywood at its finest,” says Rebstock.

Lauren says her business was closed for about a week and a half for filming. She and her staff were also extras. “It was a great experience, and it was something that my girls and I just get to look back on and think of as a special time and a very unique opportunity,” says Rebstock.