Press Clippings
Mount Airy News - August 20, 2005
A New Awareness
Staff Editorial
Today is the fourth annual Community Awareness day at the Mount airy Visitors Center on Main Street, where you will find food, music, folks happy to talk about their local groups and organizations and some special activities, all from 1 to 8 p.m.
The guests of honor will be Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska, orchardists, authors, and creators of the PBS television show SIMPLE LIVING WITH WANDA URBANSKA, and Sharon Avent, president and CEO of Smead Manufacturing Co., the television show’s national sponsor.
Whether by coincidence or intentions, the decision to shine Community Awareness Day’s spotlight on SIMPLE LIVING WITH WANDA URBANSKA is an apt choice. Reader’s Digest interviewed and photographed Frank and Wanda for an August articled that cited Mount Airy as an example of the smaller communities where many; Americans now choose to live. Over the past year, several business reports and academic studies have given Mount Airy high marks for its quality of life despite (or, more often, because of) its being a small city in a largely rural county. And after SIMPLE LIVING WITH WANDA URBANSKA beings its second season later this year, even more Americans will see Mount Airy in a new light.
Over the past 13 or 14 years, people here have become accustomed to welcoming visitors who want to find “Mayberry.” Fans of “The Andy Griffith Show” still comprise the largest number of tourists and, of course, they’re always welcome.
However, a growing group of people are coming to Mount Airy, but not to look back nostalgically at the 1950s. They’re looking for a better quality of life in the 21st century.
A friend of ours met and chatted with two of these out-of-town couples Thursday evening on Main Street. One couple came from Monroe, a community near the South Carolina border southeast of Charlotte. The other couple came from Washington, D.C. Both had seen the Reader’s Digest articles and thought to themselves, “We ought to look into this.”
Both couples found the visitors center, collected brochures and advice about what to see and then went in to the downtown district. They saw some Mayberry sights (it’s hard to miss the cherry tops when the squad –car tour rolls by), but also looked in at Holcomb’s traditional hardware store, Steve Talley’s gallery, the crafts and gift stores and other Main Street shops. One couple ate at Barney’s where , they said, a waitress with obvious pride asked whether they had seen Mount Airy mentioned in Reader’s Digest. When the couples encountered our friend, early in the evening after most shops had closed, both “especially asked about music,” he said. He directed them to the Andy Griffith Playhouse where they listened to the weekly jam session. They wound up the evening by enjoying a movie—still only $3 – at the Downtown Cinema.
At the risk of unnecessarily driving home our point, that seems like a pretty simple—not to say unexciting—vacation.
However, the couple from Washington said they had the best time with the most laughter they’ve enjoyed in years. And the couple from Monroe planned to stay through the weekend, giving themselves time for leisurely side trips to Pilot Mountain, the Blue Ridge Parkway and other sights – perhaps including the bands performing at the visitor’s center today.
Simple vacation + Simple living = Simply delightful.
That formula occurred to the economic-development consultants who drew up Mount Airy’s downtown development plan last year, except they put dollar signs on the right side of the equals sign. The team led by Arnett Muldrow & Associates strongly encouraged Mount Airy to build on its association with “Simple Living” – both the RV show and Frank and Wanda’s popular 1992 book – and to market its quality of life to tourists and also to companies and individuals who want to escape urban prices and fast pace, congestion and confusion.
“Mount Airy can position itself as a ‘base camp’ for many types of regional activities including biking, hiking, visiting vineyards (and) family ‘simple living’ retreats,” the consultants said. A “Simple Living Institute” –at first only a strategic partnership involving various community groups – could build on that base by creating classes and events around the themes of outdoor recreation , food, and wine, arts and crafts and music. “Ultimately,” the consultants said, “the institute could serve as an incubator for new businesses and activities in Mount Airy.”
The consultants could see Mount Airy’s appeal to people in search of a simpler lifestyle. These newer tourists can see it. Even Reader’s Digest can see it.
Perhaps Community Awareness day will make more residents aware that the quality of life people here sometimes take for granted—our “simple living”—is a precious gift indeed.