Ohio town focus of new movie “Love Finds You In Sugarcreek”

If you’re looking for a family film to enjoy, UP is the network to turn to with their latest original Love Finds You In Sugarcreek premiering Sunday, June 1 at 7pmET/8pmPT. Set and filmed in the Amish town of Sugarcreek, Ohio — located just south of Akron — the  charming mystery/romance stars Sarah Lancaster, Kelly McGillis (Top Gun) and Tom Everett Scott (Southland). Based on the book of the same name, Love Finds You in Sugarcreek follows the arrival of a mysterious man and his 5-year-old to the small town. Lancaster stars as a suspicious policewoman who isn’t buying their story and is reluctant to have her three Amish aunts welcome the strangers into their inn. While the film’s veteran producers have filmed movies around the world, nothing prepared them for the magic of Sugarcreek.

“It’s a magical place, and I know that sounds corny, but you feel it when you drive into the town — the way the landscape changes, how quiet it gets,” says director Terrence Cunningham. “The people are so kind. And, you know, there’s a method to their way of life that I think we have lost, and it just feels very comfortable. You feel very safe. … I highly recommend going there because you’ll see what I mean.”

Cunningham and the crew were quick to connect with the people of Sugarcreek and found it almost like TV’s famed Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show. “The first day we were there, we met with the mayor, Clayton, the chief police, Kevin, and the fire chief, Ken, and these three guys sat around and  talked about movies with us. And Clayton the mayor was out directing traffic, hanging our Sugarcreek Swiss Festival artwork,” he said. “It was, you know, Mayberry. Maybe they would think that’s harsh and may be insulted by that, but that’s like something we can all relate to. It’s kind of Mayberry. Everybody chipped in to help us make this movie. And we were walking around the first day, and I walked into a restaurant, ‘Hey, Terry. Hey, Terry.’ Like people, and I didn’t know their names, and they knew my name. So I made sure to correct that. But it was sad to leave.”

The town actually plays Swiss music from sunup to sundown, which also adds to a storybook feeel. “There’s Swiss music — like yodeling and stuff — that starts at 8 o’clock in the morning and stops at 8 o’clock at night, and it’s on the main street there, which is about two blocks,” Cunningham explains. “And then they have the world’s largest cuckoo clock that plays every hour — this big polka music and these guys, little figures, dance around. And when we were cutting the movie, we have shots of the town, and I’m sitting there watching it, and we didn’t have the polka music. As soon as I put the polka music in, it was like, ‘That’s what Sugarcreek is.’”

Who’s making Sugarcreek their next stop on their summer roadtrip?

For more information on if UP is available in your area or what channel to find it on, visit their website at uptv.com. The network was formerly the Gospel Music Channel.

Additional air dates for Love Finds You In Sugarcreek are:
Sunday, June 1 at 7pm ET (premiere)
Sunday, June 1 at 9pm ET
Sunday, June 1 at 11pm ET
Friday, June 6 at 9pm ET
Friday, June 6 at 11pm ET