Every year after the Mayberry Days trivia contest, members of the online Rerun Watcher’s Group gather for a photo near the amphitheater where the contest is held. During my past visits, we have always been in a hurry to get to another event and did not stay for the photo. But last year, I was determined to make it the first of a new tradition.
As previously described, at the beginning of 2017 I began serving as a “special correspondent” for the podcast Two Chairs, No Waiting doing a weekly audio report I call This Week in Mayberry History. The podcast is usually recorded live on Monday evening with the official, finished podcast available on Tuesday. During the live recording on Monday, a group of listeners typically visit with one another in a chatroom during the taping by typing messages.
A steadfast fan of my reports is a young woman named Sarah who is known in the Mayberry fan community as “Miss Mayberry.” A ray of sunshine to anyone she encounters, Sarah wears a crown and cape at events such as the trivia contest and presents the trophies to the winners. In the chatroom, Sarah is always vocal about how much she likes my The Week in Mayberry History reports, always typing words of encouragement such as “Great job, Randy Turner” and “I love This Week in Mayberry History.”
During the gathering, I asked Sarah if I could get a photo with her. She asked, “With me?” I told her of course I wanted a photo with Miss Mayberry. As we were getting ready for the photo, her dad said, “Sarah, do you know who that is? That’s Randy Turner.” Sarah’s expression was priceless. Getting to officially meet Sarah was a highlight of the trip.
That evening, Rob and I went back to the car to go to dinner and discovered the mistake we had made leaving our remaining salt rising bread in the car. As I said earlier, it has a pungent smell. I’ll just say that after it sat in a hot car all day, “pungent” is a bit of an understatement. Suffice it to say that the now-odorous bread immediately went into the dumpster behind the restaurant where we had dinner.
That night as we were waiting on the elevator to go back to our room, a family who had clearly just checked in were waiting as well. I asked them if they were looking forward to Mayberry Days. They responded, “What’s Mayberry Days?” They had planned their trip because they wanted to visit Mount Airy since it was Andy Griffith’s hometown yet did not realize there was an enormous festival taking place. I grabbed a copy of the Mayberry Confidential from a nearby table, a tabloid-sized publication of the Surry Arts Council during Mayberry Days that includes a schedule of events, and made sure they knew there was a parade the next morning. Considering how many fans of The Andy Griffith Show belong to various Facebook groups about the show and the viewership numbers of reruns on television, it is amazing to me that more people are not aware of the vibrant fan-driven Mayberry community that exists around the show.
Great entry, Randy. I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting you or Sarah yet. I understand we almost met at Mayberry In they Midwest in May, though. Hopefully, we will, next year. I too love your reports on the podcast. Thanks for all you do.