Georgetown named 'fastest growing city'

The Georgetown square seems to have a little something for everybody: Coffee, chocolate, antiques...and hot sauce.

"This is Mikey V's hot sauce shop and he makes hot sauces and salsas," said Esther Deleon.

Deleon is Mikey V's mother-in-law.  You could say Deleon is part of the reason Georgetown has been declared the fastest growing city in the country with a population greater than 50,000.  She just moved here a couple of years ago.

"We had heard about it being the nicest, friendliest place," she said.

She says her son-in-law's award-winning family hot sauce biz on the square started up shortly after that.

"It's been awesome, people are so nice and so friendly.  Everybody that comes into the store, everybody you meet on the street, everybody here on the square is just fabulous," Deleon said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgetown's population grew 7.8% between July 2014 and July 2015.  The city says that's 4,611 new residents in that time period. 

"Probably a lot of reasons for that.  First of all it's a safe town, we have top rated schools and we have the oldest University chartered in the State of Texas with Southwestern University," said Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross.

Ross says a new convention center opening this summer will continue to bring people in.  More shopping developments are on the way too.  Part of the charm of Georgetown seems to be its small town feel though.

"This is Mayberry R.F.D. where everybody knows everybody.  You've got Cianfrani's over here where you can go get a cup of coffee and you just sit there and people come in that you know and you can visit with them," Ross said.

Esther Deleon who by the way...vows to "keep Georgetown spicy" says she loves Austin but the traffic is horrible.  She's thrilled Georgetown is the fastest growing city but she's hopeful it won't change too much.

"Sometimes people will come in here and they'll go 'Oh thank God there's a hot sauce shop in Georgetown, you know we don't have to fight the traffic.' So hopefully it will stay small enough where people still want to come here...still want to move here," Deleon said.

The Mayor says infrastructure is a concern as people move to town in droves but he says they're preparing for it.  In June the city will break ground on the Southwest Bypass, the biggest road project in Georgetown history.