I am excited to share some news about the upcoming Mayberry Days. I will be doing two signing sessions during the festival for the new 2019 Mayberry Day-by-Day calendar I have written and that will be released by Liberty Grove Press shortly.
For those who may not know, Mayberry Days is the annual festival held the last full weekend of September in Andy Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina. Traditionally, the festival kicked off with a golf tournament on Thursday followed by a banquet at the local country club. This was followed by multiple events on Friday and Saturday, including a parade Saturday morning, concerts, lectures, autograph sessions, trivia contests, and much more. But as the festival’s popularity has grown, there are actually some events starting as early as Monday. The festival is attended by tens of thousands of fans with the biggest crowd there on Saturday.
The first signing session will be to the limited crowd of the 300 people who attend the banquet Thursday evening. While I will be there to sign (and personalize, if desired) the calendars, they will be sold by the Surry Arts Council who organizes Mayberry Days every year. Only 300 people can attend the banquet, but for those who do attend, buying a calendar is a wonderful way to support a great organization who does so much to host the premier Mayberry event of the year.

On Saturday morning, Liberty Grove Press will be represented in the parade. The parade will end with the Darling’s truck carrying a bluegrass band dressed as the Darling boys. Follow the truck down to Wally’s Service Station where the squad car tours I mentioned a couple of posts ago are based. I will be doing a calendar signing at Wally’s after the parade from 11:30 to 1:30. Wally’s has a full weekend of activities at their location at 625 S. Main Street. On Friday and Saturday, there will be bluegrass bands performing, a food truck selling burgers and hot dogs, and a vendor selling ice cream. And, of course, the signing of our new calendar on Saturday. The place will be hopping all weekend, so if you are going to be at Mayberry Days, come on down even if you can not make it while I am there on Saturday!

If you can’t make it to Mayberry Days this year, you owe it to yourself to attend someday, at least once. There are other Mayberry events that are worthy of attending, but Mayberry Days is a must.
