After meeting Barbara Eden and getting a photo and autograph, Rob and I got in line to meet Clint Howard. Clint played Leon, the ever-silent and ever-generous young boy in Mayberry dressed as a cowboy and offering people a bite of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Upon meeting Clint, one would not be out of line to quote Floyd the barber: “What a nice man!” Clint was so friendly and willing to chat. When another person approached the table, I said I knew he had other people he needed to see, but he at least gave the impression he would have been happy to chat for much longer. He is a real class act.
That afternoon, we saw the always-wonderful event called “Professor Brower’s Lecture.” Neal Brower, the man who inspired this thread of posts to explain how he came to be recently wearing a t-shirt from our Facebook chapter, is the author of the excellent book Mayberry 101. Each year he does a presentation on Saturday afternoon that is really the highlight of Mayberry Days for me. He typically has a cast member on stage with him whom he interviews while offering his own insights and showing clips from the show. In 2015, he had Clint Howard and Bruce Bilson. Bruce was the Assistant Director on the first two seasons of The Andy Griffith Show. I could have watched Neal’s presentation all day.
After the lecture, the annual meeting of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club was held, presided over by founder Jim Clark who, by the way, is also the co-author of several fine books about The Andy Griffith Show. Chapter reports are always welcome but at that point, our chapter was an internet group that really only posted on occasion so I did not offer a report.
Rob and I next explored another subject we both enjoy: Bourbon whiskey. Living near the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, Rob and I have explored most of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail together. We have also visited a number of craft distilleries and when I learned there was one right in Mount Airy called Mayberry Spirits, I knew we had to check it out.
The master distiller at Mayberry Spirits takes a shortcut used by some to try to capture the same flavor profile as aged bourbon without actually aging the spirits in a barrel. Instead, charred wood chips are added to the new whiskey and shaken once a day with the theory that you can get the equivalent of a two-year bourbon in just a few weeks. I am not a fan of this method or the resulting bourbon but it was still a fun tour. The distiller led the overview himself and gave an entertaining explanation of his operation, complete with humorous outfits. While I was not blown away by their bourbon, they do make an excellent vanilla if you are a cook. You can buy their products in their gift shop without taking the tour.
We closed out our visit with the evening performance of Colonel Tim’s Talent Show, a revue featuring the tribute artists and many of the celebrities along with the top contestants in the festival talent show and various musical performances.
On the way home the next day, I introduced Rob to Hillbilly Hot Dogs. He loved it as much as I thought he would. Another of their dogs I enjoy is named in honor of the supernatural being said to appear periodically in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The Mothman Dog is a deep-fried weenie with Hillbilly Hot Dogs’ own hot dog sauce, 1000-Island dressing, two onion rings, and tomatoes—or as the menu says, maters.
I also mentioned previously the Homewrecker, a mammoth 15-inch-long deep-fried one pound weenie piled high with peppers, onions, nacho cheese, spicy chili sauce, jalapeños, mustard, slaw, tomatoes, lettuce, and shredded cheese. They actually have an even bigger version called the Widowmaker which is a 30-inch, 2-pound weenie with 4 pounds of the same toppings. Needless to say, we didn’t have that one either.
I don’t know whether it was the fun-filled time we had in Mount Airy or the lure of a return trip to Hillbilly Hot Dogs, but before we were home, Rob had already decided he wanted to come back to Mayberry Days the following year.