MICROPOLITANS: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Part 3

MICROPOLITANS: THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Mt. Airy, NC sounds like a fictional town from the golden age of television: an honest-to-goodness downtown with a Main Street, proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a still-thriving drive-in movie theater and other quaint touches such as a building bedecked with an authentic antique Coca-Cola sign.

Indeed, Mt. Airy, was the boyhood home of actor and small town America icon Andy Griffith. The town’s tourism website address is VisitMayberry.com. But to dismiss this city as a sleepy little backwater would be a serious mistake.

“Mount Airy has long been the economic hub for the county,” said Don Brookshire. back when he was City Manager of Mt. Airy

“In the past this meant that it was both a retailing and manufacturing center that brought workers in who would shop in our area. Beginning in the late 1990s, the city began to feel the impact of the global economy with the loss of several thousand textile and furniture manufacturing related jobs. At the same time, the community was seeing the decline in the major agricultural crop of the region, tobacco,” said Brookshire.

But Mt. Airy, located 85 miles from Charlotte with a micropolitan area population of 71,000, found a way to adapt. Now the downtown is focused less on retail and more on tourism. It’s capitalized on being the hometown of not only Griffith, but also Eng and Chang -- the world’s most famous Siamese Twins – and country singer Donna Fargo.

And located in the Blue Ridge foothills, the town is attracting hikers and bikers looking to explore the surrounding natural beauty.

“We have a diversified local mix of business and industry that offers both the old and the new. The serene and bucolic downtown is separated by about a mile from a thriving street that is bounded by numerous chain and franchise establishments that offer all that can be found in most cities of a larger size,” said Brookshire.