“The hypnotic tranquillity of Mayberry – America’s favorite small Southern town – has inspired an ever-increasing band of devotees who are flocking by the thousands to Mount Airy, the place they call ‘the real Mayberry.’ And the Mayberry-Mount Airy connection has given the town a trump card to play in the tourist trade.”

- Atlanta Journal Constitution “It takes more than a glorified pork chop in a hamburger bun to generate the kind of allure radiated by this tiny diner on Main Street (Mount Airy). Snappy Lunch serves each of its customers a generous helping of small-town America—and that is a tasty dish that’s getting mighty hard to find.”

- Gourmet

“Griffith used his North Carolina hometown as a model for Mayberry, basing many of the show’s characters on the friends, neighbors and shopkeepers he grew up with…The idealized values espoused on `50s sitcoms are very much in evidence here.”

- Washington Post

“Mount Airy is reminiscent of a simpler time, when life moved a little slower and people knew their neighbors…. It’s comforting to know places such as Mount Airy still exist in America and they warmly welcome visitors.”

- The Dallas Morning News

“Community, connectedness, continuity, character and caring are values I’ve embraced since transplanting in Mount Airy, N.C., (population 8,514) from L.A. They’re propelling the `90s migratory trend toward small towns. In times of social fragmentation and alienation small towns offer a code that looks attractive rather than restrictive.”

- Wanda Urbanska, author of Moving To A Small Town (Simon & Schuster), USA Today

“As The Mayberry Confidential, the newsletter of the Mayberry Festival, says: ‘Mayberry is that wonderful mindset for each of us where wrongs are righted, the food is all home-cooked, life is simple, the rocking chairs are waiting on the porch and, best of all, people are welcomed and made to feel at home when they visit.’ The newsletter may mean Mayberry, but it sounds just like Mount Airy.”

- The Miami Herald

Despite Mount Airy’s busy entertainment schedule, life in this part of the world is relaxed and friendly, and the beautiful surrounding countryside conceals luxurious and secluded inns and bed and breakfasts amid its solitude and serenity. So, when everyday pressures start to wear you out, pay a visit to this border county and, as Deputy Barney Fife would say, ‘nip it in the bud.’ ”

- Blue Ridge Country

“Small-town America hardly could wish for a better symbol than the textile hamlet of Mount Airy.”

- Our State

“Mount Airy may not exactly be Mayberry, but it definitely offers that little piece of home that all of us long for. It truly brings to mind the description Andy Griffith himself gave it: ‘A kind of Camelot.’ ”

- Family Motor Coaching