STORM2K

http://www.wral.com/news/3606722/detail.html

Andy Griffith Statue Coming To Mount Airy

POSTED: 3:28 pm EDT August 2, 2004
UPDATED: 4:40 pm EDT August 2, 2004

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Andy Griffith did not have much luck in Raleigh, so he is trying his hometown. TV Land will unveil a replica of the Raleigh statue in Mount Airy next month.

The revealing of the second Opie and Andy statue will kick off the 15th annual Mayberry Festival starting on Sept. 24. It will appropriately sit on the front lawn of Andy Griffith's Playhouse.

The Andy Griffith statue in Raleigh was vandalized three times after it went up last October.

BTW...my brother-in-law Mike is a native from Mount Airy! As a boy he got his haircuts at Russell's Barbershop there that was the setting for Floyd's shop...and there's a place called Snappy Lunch where they sell one of Andy's favorite foods...pork chop sandwiches...not too far from Russell's...a door or two up/down the street. There's some show memorabilia on display inside the restaurant front window and large pics of Griffith show cast members on the restaurant walls!

Every October Mike and his wife (my sister) Retha and their kids go out to see his folks and they attend the Autumn Leaf Festival...Pilot Mountain nearby is also where the fictional town of Mt. Pilot came from.

I've been to both Snappy Lunch...and also went to Russell's (didn't need a haircut at the time)...but posed in his barber chair and had my pic taken and put on his wall among many other pics of guys that came through there and there's even a guestbook.

Eric

Is that Mount Airy, OH Eric? LOL J/k!

therock1811 wrote:Is that Mount Airy, OH Eric? LOL J/k!

Jeremy,

Speaking of Mount Airy, OH...when my folks and my 4 1/2 month-old sister (I was 2 yrs-old) moved to Cincinnati in February 1965...that was the first suburb we moved to. Later we lived in N. College Hill...Oakley and Seven Hills before moving on to Hamilton, OH...(BTW...your birth city!)

Eric

That Eric - was wondering if he'd remember we have a Mt. Airy in the Cincinnati area....it's just a suburb of Cincinnati though, to anyone confused. Certainly not a town but it has a huge water tower that's pretty cool!

We saw signs for Mt. Airy on our way to Emerald Isle Eric. My brother-in-law's favorite show is Andy Griffith. He kept pestering us to stop. We all joked in the car if Jay was with us, we'd be stopping to see 'ole Andy'. But we had a condo reservation to claim and you know how it is when you're so close to your destination, you just want to get there! But maybe another time if we ever pass thru there, it would be nice to see Mt. Airy.

Mary

BUMP

That is one of my favorite shows. Maybe I can swing up there for the festival this year. I've been thorugh Mount Airy but haven't stopped to visit.

Debbie