Mount Airy s New Year Badge Raise goes virtual for 2021
Coronavirus restrictions threatened to cancel the 8th annual Badge Raising but organizers were determined they said the city needs a light more than ever. Author: Grace Holland Updated: 2:57 PM EST January 1, 2021
MOUNT AIRY, N.C. New Years traditions looked different Thursday due to the pandemic but one Triad city found a way to continue its countdown.
Mount Airy s Badge Raise is going virtual.
The city raises a big sheriff s badge to honor hometown native Andy Griffith. Everybody else drops something so we figured why not raise it up instead? And also it s about raising your hopes and your dreams for the coming year, Matt Edwards said.
April 16, 2021
One of the big guns at CBS News could be heading to Mount Airy soon for a special report by the television network on this city’s Mayberry connection and its identification with recent national events.
This concerns a project involving longtime correspondent Ted Koppel which has been in the works for months.
It is targeted for “CBS News Sunday Morning,” a news magazine program on the air for more than 40 years.
Dustin Stephens, a producer for that show, said in January that its focus on “Mayberry” is part of the TV network’s ongoing coverage of a unique period for the nation.
By Kate Rauhauser-Smith
A mining industry publication in 1927 stated the Mount Airy quarries employed more than 750 people with a payroll of $900,000 a year. The craftsmen turned out ornate pieces and building blocks in several finishes but, by far, the more common products have been more mundane items such as street curbing. Concrete curbs deteriorate in a few years in harsh northern winters where salt and the freeze-thaw cycle are constant. Granite is impervious to such destructive forces. A large group of quarry workers are pictured here in 1914 in one of the cutting sheds.
The US Census records show the impact the quarry had on regional diversity with significant clusters of residents born in European mining centers around the quarry. Carving rock is a specialized skill that takes decades to master. Three of the best known are pictured here in the 1940s. From left are Marcelino San Emeterio, who was born in Santander, Spain; Vincenzo “Big Jim” Alfano, from Salerno, Italy;