13th
Annual Mayberry Days
September
26-28, 2002
by Jeff
Koontz
It was another
fun-filled time in Mount Airy with my friends coming in from all over the
country to get together for what has become our Mayberry family reunion. A few
of my friends were only able to be there in spirit this year and they were
certainly missed. So many
people involved with the Surry Arts Council work hard to make this a successful
event and I appreciate all their efforts. I do what I can to promote and help before the
festival
and they let me play most
all weekend. This year's guest stars included Betty
Lynn (Thelma Lou), Maggie Peterson-Mancuso (Charlene Darling), Howard Morris
(Ernest T. Bass), George Spence (George), and new comers, James Best (Jim
Lindsey), and writer Harvey Bullock.
We have to get an
early start on the festival, so many of us arrive on Wednesday, the day before
the official start, to have some time together before things get so hectic
around town. The schedule of events has settled down some, but only because
there are only 24 hrs in a day. It is busy from start to finish, but we manage
to spend time together to catch up "vis-a-vis" and enjoy our time
together. I brought my camera this time and have some photos to share with the
stories.
|
Ron
& Linda from Kenneth City, FL inside Andy's Homeplace |
We
got checked into our accommodations for the night and many of us met at
the Blue Bird Diner on Wednesday afternoon. It was about the only time
there was no line to eat there, so we did well to get lunch when we did.
Bob & Carolyn have
made reservations for the group to stay at Andy's Homeplace Bed &
Breakfast the past couple years and that has been a great way to start off
the weekend. The home is where Andy Griffith grew up and has been a
B&B for a few years now. There was a good crowd for dinner and this
year Bob grilled rib eye sandwiches and people brought things to share for
dinner. I slipped up to the SAC reception at Tanya home to visit with
friends and the guests stars for a little bit before returning for a late
dinner. Emmett & Bobbi Forrest stopped by later in the evening and he
told us about the time he and Andy got caught in the rain and Mrs.
Griffith was not going to let Emmett go home wet, so she made the boys
stand by the wood stove in the kitchen and dry off. Ann Vaughn and Jim
Clark both stopped by to visit, which was extra nice, knowing how busy
they are during the weekend. |
|
Bob
& Carolyn from Plainview, NE at Andy's Homeplace |
|
Linda,
Kathy, Pat and Joyce - The Ladies
Aide Church Committee meeting in the kitchen |
| A
few of us slept over at the home place and Bob fixed a breakfast
casserole and David & Linda brought 3 pans of biscuits and muffins,
so everyone got the day off to a good start. It had rained all night and
I went to the store to get some juice and a newspaper, I forgot to park
my car where my moon roof would drain and got soaked when I pulled out
of the driveway and the water came pouring in from above. Later in the
day, it happened again and I soaked Bob too!
The Mount
Airy News had feature articles on all the guest stars in 3 days
worth of papers. It was nice to have that so the Mayberry
Confidential could do a nice front page featuring Andy Griffith and
Parkway Dedication on October 16th. |
Breakfast
of Champions |
|
John
with his new lucky penny |
Thursday morning there was
a dedication ceremony for Maggie Peterson-Mancuso's donation to the Andy
Griffith Museum. In 1967, she was featured in the "Uptown-Downtown
Special" with Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, and Tennessee Ernie Ford. She
still had 2 dresses (designed by Bob Macke), shoes, dress sketches and
promotional items from the show. It is a wonderful new addition to the
collection of memorabilia. Jim Clark and I got to be the official unveilers and
pull the curtain down to uncover the display. Another advantage to being tall!
|
Suzanne
and Brenda at the Golf Tournament |
Thursday
turned into a rather soggy day, but the festival must go on! The golf
tournament had a better than expected turnout and Emmett Forrest's team
finished 10 under to take the top prize again. The White Horse team of
Troy & Kathy Taylor and Pat & Neil Coleman continued their
tradition of one round of golf each year, and secured the Power Failure
Award again (bless their hearts). They did take the Esquire Club Costume
Award as well with a great theme from "Divorce, Mountain
Style." (East to West! East to West!) The rain kept most of the
crowds away from the Tee-Off, so it was a nice opportunity to
visit with the guest stars before the tournament started and get some
photos. |
|
Huggy
Huggy! |
| Bob & Carolyn, Trisha and I stayed the
rest of the weekend at Chestnut Hills, so we got settled there and met up with
friends downtown later that afternoon and drove out to visit Miss Annie and have
a Rockford Steak* for lunch at the Rockford General Store. It is the 2nd neatest
little general store (behind the Four Corners Country Store in Plainview, NE)
and we ate one of the best *bologna and cheese sandwiches this side of Fishers
Creek. We also go to drive over the Low Water Bridge, which is just down the
road, and is scheduled to be removed in a few weeks. A local piece of lore swept
into the dustbin of history. |
Ordering
Up a Rockford Steak |
| In the summer of
2001, I spent 2 months in Watertown, South Dakota and happened upon the
Coteau Shopper, the local weekly paper. Each issue published a photo of
someone holding the paper in locations outside of South Dakota,
so I took a copy home with the intent of getting a photo like this to
send back to them. With any luck, they will publish this photo and my
friends at the Clark County Courthouse where I worked will see it and
send me a copy! |
Betty
Lynn (Thelma Lou) and Maggie Peterson-Mancuso (Charlene Darling) point
the Coteau Shopper |
Thursday evening David & Linda made
reservations for us to have dinner at the Sagebrush Steakhouse & Saloon. We
had a nice dinner and chance to visit in the back room. Ann Vaughn, the
executive director of the Visitors Center stopped by as well. We pretty much
closed the restaurant down (as we usually do) and went downtown to see if the
Jam Session was still jamming, but they had already rolled up the sidewalks, so
we called it a day.
| Friday
morning came early, but I slept as well as I have during Mayberry Days
for as long as I can remember. I am usually so keyed up about all the
fun that I don't sleep more than 3-4 hours a night. Chestnut Hills is so
peaceful and the only thing I heard was the wind and rain and the
occasional thud of a chestnut falling on Trisha's car outside my window.
I went into town and spent a couple hours at the Visitors Center helping
with balloons and decorations for the grounds, then headed to the Main-Oak
Emporium to see Neal Brower and special guest Harvey Bullock at the
book signing. The weather was not very cooperative on Friday, so they
moved the Mayor's Proclamation into the Catawba Room of the Emporium and
that worked out well. It was nice hearing a new proclamation from the
new mayor. One of the nicest things was my friend Kathy signing during
the event and said how much Harvey Bullock appreciate that because he
has a sister who is deaf.
My friend Greg brought the
birdhouse the Harvey Bullock made a number of years ago for a fund
raiser that TAGSRWC had. Harvey recognized it right off and was kind
enough to autograph it.
I had the opportunity to visit
with Harvey's wife Betty, and we talked about her polymer clay necklace.
She said she had never owned a piece of jewelry that got more attention
and if you look carefully, you can see why. I told her about my sister
Judy's jewelry and was able to show her a bracelet that Carolyn brought
with her. Betty was very impressed (as I always am of my sister's
creativity).
With the crowd already gathered
and the weather potentially creating a mess at the Historic Moore House,
Mrs. Wiley's Tea was moved to the Catawba Room. "May I have this
dance?" "Thank you for the dance." The guest stars also
signed autographs and took photos with the fans. |
Betty Bullock
at the Mayor's Proclamation |
|
Greg
Barkely and Harvey Bullock with Greg's Birdhouse that Harvey made |
|
Mrs.
Wiley's Tea |
The rain brought the trivia contest
inside the Andy Griffith Playhouse and I missed sitting on the hill with Johnny
& Donna Phillips, who were unable to attend this year (but got to see Don
Knotts and Tim Conway perform that weekend). This years trivia questions were as
hard as ever and I only got 7 correct answers out of 22. However, my 6 stickers
(I should have gone down to guess one I had right), were enough for me to tie
for 6th place, my highest ever! Three time trivia champion Pat got every
question correct, so if any of you think I'm the TAGS nut, let me introduce you
to one of the nicest ladies who knows the show more than anyone.
| Friday night the Doug Dillard Band
played their annual concert (he's been a part of every Mayberry Days!)
at the Andy Griffith Playhouse. This year he featured a 16 year old girl
on lead guitar. She was incredibly talented and the audience really
showed their appreciation for her talent. They also brought out a girl
who is a Senior at East Tennessee State University (they have a
traditional music curriculum) who sang a couple songs and played fiddle.
I had a nice visit with Doug during the intermission and really enjoyed
the show.
We had our annual post-concert gathering and
everyone had a nice time visiting, sharing photos, telling tales,
rocking on the porch, and wondering "just what can you do
with a grown woman and Saran Wrap?" |
The 2002
Doug Dillard Band
|
|
It's A Big
Moulage! |
Saturday morning came
even earlier and we hustled downtown to set up tables for the Silent
Auction and get our regular place on the sidewalk for the parade. It was
great to see a cow leading the parade with this year's t-shirt design
being a big moulage! |
Potato
Queen riding with Jody Crawford, who lays out the Mayberry Confidential |
I didn't have a chance to take many
photos on Saturday, but there was so much going on. Right after the parade was
the WBMUTBB Silent Auction. We had more
items than table space, but we found a home for all the things that members
donated and will have some cool stuff from Surry Arts Council to start next
year. We had some really neat items this year including unique autographed
items, a Chinese Pewter Box from the estate of Frances Bavier (which found the
perfect home in Aunt Bee's room at the Mayberry
Motor Inn) and raised $2030 for SAC this year. I had lots of help from
friends and it wouldn't be a success with all of their efforts.
I also got to hold the raffle drum for
the drawing for dinner with the TAGS stars and an autographed squad car cookie
jar. The winner was SOOO excited and it was great that real fans of the show
would get to dine with so many stars from the show.
Once the dust settled from the auction,
I found some friends first in line for Neal Brower's Lecture, "A Visit With
Harvey Bullock." The lecture is always my favorite part of Mayberry Days
and this was the best one in a series of great lectures. Harvey was a writer for
TAGS and among his credits are some classics including "Opie the
Birdman", "The Pickle Story", "The Loaded Goat",
"Mr. McBeevee", "The Bookie Barber" and
"Jailbreak" which has my favorite epilogue. It was so nice to hear his
stories about the our favorite show.
The TAGSRWC
Dinner meeting followed that and I had forgotten to get the drum for the video
raffle, so I had to run back to the Playhouse to get it and returned a big
sweatball and missed the first part of the meeting. I do enjoy the chapter
reports and hearing about plans for the upcoming Mayberry events in 2003. I also
got to represent our local TAGSRWC Chapter "Some of Us Got It... Some of Us
Ain't" in the annual group photo!
Colonel Tim's Talent Time was next and David
Browning did a fantastic job of emceeing the show. He just gets better every
year. There were only a couple of fresh acts this year and my favorite part was
listening to Maggie's sister Phyllis Eaton play the piano (what a talented
family!). Other new material included Allan Newsome as "Pink Floyd' singing
an original Mayberry song to the tune "House of the Rising Sun" and the Soggy Bottom Boys, David and Allan, with wives Patty and Jan and Allan's son Adam as backup singers, in "Man of Constant Sorrow." It was also great to see Phil Lee back on stage having fun - he's the man of a thousand costumes.
| The
final event of Saturday is the Bowling Tournament. We fielded two teams
this year and had the most fun of anyone there. Team 44 "Henry
Bennett's Outdoor Fun Center" won 2nd place and added another
trophy to their collection. Congratulations to Bob, Don, Dave and John! |
|
Henry
Bennett's Bowling Teams
|
Dave, Don, Bob & John with their bowling trophies
|
|
David
& Linda of Easley, SC at Breakfast
|
Sunday
morning we had our annual farewell breakfast at the Golden Corral. The
whole weekend goes so quickly and it is nice to get together for one
final time before having to part ways. Fortunately, many of us will get
to return for the Andy Griffith Parkway Dedication.
"There is no such thing as
good-bye among friends." |
|
Saying
farewell on Sunday
|
|
Carolyn
sporting her Elvis scarf
|
