August 2024 Cities Civil and Municipal Public Sector

Mount Airy, North Carolina – Surry County

August 28, 2024

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Mayberry Magic and a Forward-Thinking Vision

A culturally significant town with a dynamic future to enjoy

At the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies Mount Airy, a town that perfectly blends the charm of small-town America with the dynamism of modern development. With a population of 10,500, the city is renowned as the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry from “The Andy Griffith Show,” attracting around 500,000 visitors annually.

“We are known around the world because of Mayberry, and what we have come to understand is it goes way past the Andy Griffith Show, although that’s where the origins come from,” depicts Mount Airy Mayor, Jon Cawley. “The Mayberry idea now is about a quality of life. A simple way of living that might be quaint, but it’s filled with good vibes and hope.”

Preserving America’s Hometown while Embracing Growth

Mayor Cawley reflects on the town’s ability to offer a nostalgic journey back to a time of kindness and simplicity. “We want to be the best small town in America. We look at ourselves as America’s hometown,” he says. He emphasizes that in Mount Airy, this spirit is not just for show- it’s part of the city’s identity.

The city is working to balance this idyllic small-town charm with the challenges of maintaining a tourist attraction, and a growing city. “We’ve got water lines and sewer lines that are nearing 100 years old. So, we have to continue to upgrade our infrastructure,” Cawley acknowledges. He adds that the city is constantly working on efforts to support tourism, from encouraging shop owners to open during convenient hours, to finding additional parking for visitors to the city.

City Manager, Darren Lewis, shares that along with the Mayberry connection, Mount Airy is becoming a sought-after location in its own right. “People enjoy small rural communities, and are looking for those destinations, whether that’s to live or to visit,” he explains. “By all means, we will open our doors for the 500,000 visitors, and we would love for them to move to our area.”

Lewis shares that Mount Airy is also a certified Retire NC retirement community and has been recognized as a livable community through the American Association of Retired Persons network. “One of our focuses is that we want to be a community that supports people of all ages and abilities, by offering quality facilities and amenities, and improving quality of life for everyone here,” he details.

A Downtown Transformation

Mount Airy is in the midst of several infrastructure projects, including the development of a convention center, a $16 million project that is currently in the planning stages. Lewis depicts, “This is going to transform Mount Airy, it’s going to complement the Mayberry feel and bring a different audience to our community.” The hope is to attract small conventions during the week, opening the center up for performances on the weekends, and catering to the tourist crowd. “It could be used as a wedding venue, or for high school reunions. It can be open to many, many different things. We want to capitalize on it, and we hope that we are best utilized seven days a week. That would be our goal,” says Lewis.

The convention center will be located in an area known as the Spencer’s Mill Development site, which will also be the home of the Mount Airy Visitors Center. In addition, Sun House Hospitality is renovating a historic mill, transforming it into a Marriott Tribute Hotel, an investment of $25 million. “It is the first tribute hotel in the state of North Carolina,” boasts the mayor. “They chose the name, Balladeer, not just because of our musical heritage. There’s a lot of origin to bluegrass music in this part of North Carolina. But the word balladeer doubles as a word that means storytelling. And of course, that’s what made the Andy Griffith Show so compelling, is that they saw the story in the normal common way of living.”

On the corner of Franklin and Willow, one block from the city’s historic Main Street, streetscape improvements will also be implemented. Lewis recounts, “We will be burying some power lines, improving sidewalks and accessibility, and updating our largest public parking area, which is adjacent to the convention center. We envision this being the thoroughfare to historic Main Street for our tourists and for the individuals that are going to be here visiting.”

Mayor Cawley adds, “We’re probably going to make it a one-way street. So that we don’t have gridlock coming up to Main Street when the convention center releases the 150 to 200 cars that might be in there.” There will also be efforts to widen sidewalks on Franklin Street, to enhance the walkability of the downtown. “We are looking at making that area a lot more inviting aesthetically, adding some benches, and a tree or two,” illustrates Lewis.

Water Line Upgrades and Granite City Greenway Expansion

The city has secured funding to replace the aging water lines along its historic Main Street, a project valued at over $2 million. Additionally, Mount Airy received $4 million to expand a recreation area known as the Granite City Greenway, a paved eight-mile course that will connect the community, and all four Mount Airy city schools, providing a safe and scenic route for pedestrians and cyclists. “This is a 10-foot wide paved path that runs basically in the middle of our city, which is utilized by visitors and residents,” Lewis describes. “For a community, our size to have a little over nine miles of Greenway is unheard of.”

Growth and Development

Mount Airy is facing a housing squeeze, exacerbated by the popularity of the community, and the short-term rental potential. Mayor Cawley details, “We’ve got a lot of out-of-town investors that are buying houses and turning them into Airbnb’s because they’re always full. So, we have a whole lot of situations in which we have to find the best opportunity. They’re not so much problems, as it is just other people seeing that this is a place they want to be. So, then we’ve got to figure out how all of that fits together.”

To help address this issue, Surry County formed a housing summit, which successfully brought together developers from the local area and across the state. “We showed them the need for affordable housing or market-rate housing in our community,” conveys Lewis. “It has spurred the interest of some large developers across the state.” He shares that one developer is planning to create 100 additional houses in the community. Although the property is currently just outside the city limits in Surry County, the developer intends to request annexation to access Mount Airy’s water and sewer services.

On the subject of water, Lewis asserts, “Mount Airy is so fortunate to have a plethora of water. We have the capability of treating eight and a half million gallons of water per day. Currently, we’re using about two and a half million gallons, so we have an excess of six million gallons of water available each day. This is a resource that we want to promote to area, state, and nationwide businesses that may have an interest in relocating or expanding their business.”

A Vision for the Future

Looking to the future, Mount Airy is courting a major investment from a company considering a $70 million to $100 million project. This investment would be the largest in the town’s history and promises to create jobs and significantly boost the local economy. “We are spending a lot of brainpower and energy to make that happen so that we can win that opportunity,” highlights Mayor Cawley.

Lewis says the next few years will see the completion of the downtown transformation projects, along with continued business attraction efforts. He states, “It is our goal to continue with the economic development, not only in our downtown area but to have some site-ready projects located in our community. So, if a company wants to expand, or relocate to Mount Airy, to benefit from our plethora of water, or just to be in a small, vibrant rural community, we want to make sure that we are ready when they’re ready.”

As a city that cherishes its past while eagerly embracing the future, Mount Airy stands as a testament to what a small town can achieve with vision and dedication. As Mayor Cawley aptly puts it, “Mount Airy is Mount Airy because of her ability to enhance relationships and see the beauty of the story in those relationships.”