Mayberry Days

By: © Nelson Taylor 2009

Festival Location: Mount Airy, NC, USA

Festival State: North Carolinan Festivals

Festival Type: Fan Coventions

September 1990 marked the 30th Anniversary of the Andy Griffith Show and the first Mayberry Days celebration in Mount Airy, the birthplace of Andy Griffith. What started as a 1-day event with a crowd of 800 has swelled into a 3-day celebration of one of America's most memorable television show.

While dear old Andy is dead and gone, folks from Mayberry drop by every year, though they don't look quite the same anymore. You might see George Lindsay (Goober), Maggie Peterson Mancuso (Charlene) and Richard Linke (the show's producer and Andy's personal manager). Or you might witness the unveiling of the Otis Cambell wardrobe (on loan from the estate of Hal Smith and the Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club). Or maybe you'll want to stop by the local restaurant Snappy Lunch and try your hand at the Mayberry Days Pork Chop Sandwich Eating Contest. The record is a mere five sandwiches, so the title is up for the taking.

The fest is free for all fans. But remember this: don't breath word about Mayberry being a fictitious town, because if you do a local Barney Fife look-alike will cuff you, stuff you, and dump you naked at the border.