Mayberry isn't a relic of the past
Mount Airy is showing how a town can let its values guide growth
The second you drive into downtown Mount Airy, there’s no mistaking where you are. The town leans all the way into Mayberry, with reminders everywhere that this is the place that inspired one of the most durable images of small-town America.
That can come across as cheesy or tacky. But I just took my family there this weekend, and what struck me was how little of it felt forced.
Every shopowner we met was warm, even when we barged in noisily and didn’t buy a thing. Snappy Lunch had a line out the door, but nobody seemed stressed. At one point, a man walked by with a llama, and it didn’t seem strange.
What makes Mount Airy truly interesting is that it does not feel like a tourist town. It feels like a town that knows what it is. Mayberry really doesn’t seem like an act, but part of the town’s DNA.
That DNA is shaping the future of the town. There is real economic ambition there: The city has spent years pushing the Spencer’s Mill site toward redevelopment, and its downtown plan is built around adding new activity, new investment, and new reasons for people to spend time in the center of town.
But every single discussion about all this growth starts in the same place. How do we build in a way that protects the town’s character rather than replaces it?
It seems to be working. Downtown taxable value has risen sharply over the last decade, occupancy is high, and local leaders are still planning for more.
That is the part North Carolina should pay attention to.
Too often, we talk about growth as if it is just a matter of adding more people, more buildings, and more investment. Mount Airy suggests a better way to think about it. Start with the kind of place you want to be, then make decisions that strengthen that identity instead of dissolving it.
My kids had never seen The Andy Griffith Show, so we watched a few episodes at the Airbnb on Saturday night.
It still holds up. It feels as relevant today as it was back in the 1960s.
Mayberry is not just something to remember and yearn for. It is still something to build.
In the newspaper
A new I-77 toll lane fight is brewing in Charlotte, and Gov. Josh Stein may be learning the same lesson Gov. Pat McCrory did a decade ago. In my first newspaper column last week, I argued Stein may not have started this fight, but as it keeps moving, he will own it politically.
Read it here, free with gift link: The I-77 tolls project is about to become Josh Stein’s problem
Stein’s new cannabis panel says North Carolina has reached a breaking point on marijuana. In my latest column, I agree with that part. What’s false is the supposed choice they offer between today’s hemp chaos and full legalization. There is a third option: close the loophole and enforce the law.
Read it here, free with gift link: North Carolina should choose order, not surrender, on cannabis
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Question of the week
Last week, I asked you about where the Roy Cooper-Michael Whatley race really stands. An overwhelming majority (63%) of you said Cooper is up between 4 and 7 points. I think that’s about right, but I probably should have adjusted the ranges. It’s a lot closer to 7 than 4 right now.