Is Hope Springs, New York Real? What to Know About the 'Hot Frosty' Filming Locations

Dustin Milligan as Jack, sitting at a diner counter, in 'Hot Frosty.'.

This Christmas, Netflix gifted us an update on the fluffy holiday rom-com with Hot Frosty. Starring Mean Girls alum Lacey Chabert, the film follows a plucky diner owner who could use a bit of Christmas cheer. Kathy's (Chabert) holiday season is turned upside down when she's gifted a magical scarf that turns a chiseled snowman into an alive, hot-blooded man. Kathy has recently lost her husband, and the newly-human Jack (Schitt's Creek's Dustin Milligan) gives her a second chance at love (and a refreshing dose of lust for such a wholesome flick).

Like many Christmas movies, Hot Frosty takes place in a cozy small town that gives Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow a run for its money. This movie's setting, Hope Springs, New York, has viewers wondering whether they could complete their holiday season with a trip to the town (hot defrosted snowman included or not). Read on for everything we know about the filming locations of Hot Frosty.

Is Hope Springs, NY a real place?

Kathy (Lacey Chabert) meets Jack (still in snowman form) in Hot Frosty. (Image credit: Courtesy of Netflix)

Sorry to break hearts, but Hot Frosty's small town of Hope Springs, New York, is completely fictional. However, there is a village with a similar name just an hour outside of N.Y.C. Cold Springs, NY, is located on the Hudson River just an hour MetroNorth ride away, and is idyllic enough to fulfill your small-town fantasies year round. (Whether you run into a hot, kind man who will cook you dinner is anyone's guess.)

Kathy (Chabert) compares a chiseled snow man's face to Jack's (Milligan). (Image credit: Courtesy of Netflix)

Where was 'Hot Frosty' filmed?

Like many Netflix productions, Hot Frosty was filmed on location in and around the cities of Brockville and Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. According to TheWrap, Brockville is just across the border almost due north of New York, a seven-hour drive or two-hour flight away.

As reported by Screenrant, Court House Square in downtown Brockville (also known as the City of the 1000 Islands) stood in for Hope Springs' plaza, where the snowmen competition took place and Jack was born (or transformed). Scenes in Kathy's diner and the Reclaimed Rags thrift store were filmed in nearby buildings, including the Keystorm Pub.

Despite the winter weather, a shirtless Jack (Milligan) helps Kathy with maintenance around her house. (Image credit: Petr Maur / Netflix)

Meanwhile, according to CTV News, Kathy's house was filmed in Almonte, a former mill town an hour northwest of Brockville and an hour southwest of Ottawa.

Finally, a closed elementary school in Ottawa served as the location for the Christmas dance.