My husband and I had a wonderful time at Mayberry Days this year. Actually, we
weren't even planning to go, but when Harriet couldn't attend and offered her
tickets for sale, I talked hubby into it. The weather was hotter than I would
have preferred, but it was nice with no rain. We went to the Mayor's
Proclamation Friday morning and mingled with many of the guest stars and
tribute artists. I went up to talk to Betty Lynn afterwards, and she was as
charming and gracious as always. Ray (my husband) took my picture with her.
Then we saw Karen Knotts' new show, "A Deputy's Daughter." We enjoyed it. We
had lunch at Leon's Burger Express, where we didn't have to wait too long for a
seat and the food was good. Then we walked around town a while and went to the
Rodney Dillard concert. Those folks can really play! Maggie Peterson sang
some songs toward the end, and the Mayberry Deputy added to the fun. We went
to the trivia contest afterward. I wasn't going to enter because, tho
ugh I think I know a lot about the show, I don't study all year, memorizing
all manner of esoteric details in order to participate, and I don't like to do
something if I don't have a chance of doing it well. But my husband talked me
into entering. Of the fifteen questions in the qualifying round, I got two
right. Considering the third place winner only got four right, I guess that
isn't too terrible, and it was fun participating. However, in the final round,
I knew the answers to eight or nine of the questions, so I thought that was
kind of weird. They made the questions in the qualifying round harder than in
the final round! Afterwards, we had the chapter meet-up and photo. Then we
walked past the Andy and Opie statue and took a few pictures and also drove
past Andy's home place and took a few more photos. We found a Thai restaurant
in town and ate our supper there. It was quite good!
On Saturday, we arrived early for the parade and staked out a spot for our
chairs. Actually, I don't know why we bring two chairs because once the parade
starts, I'm not in mine at all. I spent the whole parade going up and down the
street taking pictures. I just can't really enjoy anything if I can't
photograph it!! After the parade, we walked over to Wally's Service and had a
bite to eat. We went in the courthouse and took pictures of each other in
Andy's chair and in Otis's cell. We also sat and listened to the bluegrass
band that played in front of the Darling cabin. Then at 1:00 one of my
Facebook groups had a meet-up, and we took a group photo. We walked back into
the main part of town and got in line for Neal Brower's lecture. He was
supposed to interview Clint Howard, but Clint had an opportunity come up for a
movie part, I think, so he took that and skipped out on Prof. Brower. That was
a disappointment, as I was looking forward to seeing him for the first time. B
ut, fortunately, Neal Brower had spent a lot of time talking to Clint, as well
as Rance Howard, beforehand, so he had enough material to do the lecture in
lieu of an interview. I wanted to stay for the TAGSRWC annual meeting, but we
hadn't been to the museum yet, and I was afraid we might not have time if we
stayed for the meeting, so we went to the museum instead. (As it turned out, I
think we would have had time for both, but, oh well.) We've seen it before,
but since they now allow non-flash photography in the museum, I was itching to
take pictures. We also saw the new Betty Lynn exhibit, which is in the
basement of the Playhouse adjacent to the museum. We had an early supper at
the Loaded Goat. The food was quite good! We had some time to kill before the
evening performance of Col. Tim's Talent Time, so we decided to sit awhile in
the rockers at the entrance to the restaurant. Ray and I got our Kindles out
of the car and spent some time reading under the ceiling fans. W
e decided to find a parking spot closer to the Playhouse, but after we parked
and got out of the car, I said, "Where's my purse?" Then I realized that I had
hung it on the back of the rocking chair at the Loaded Goat. Panic time!! Not
only did the purse contain my wallet with credit cards, our tickets for Col.
Tim's were in it, too. We drove back, and the purse was not on the chair. I
ran into the restaurant, and I must have been rather wild eyed because the girl
at the front took one look at me and said, "Purse?" Thank the Lord, someone
had found it and turned it in! And everything seemed to be intact, including
the tickets. So we went back and made it in time for the performance. It was
a very entertaining show, and everyone did a great job. Someone already
mentioned the Porter and Dolly skit. That was definitely a highlight! So
funny! I, too, really enjoyed the re-enactments of scenes from the show. The
tribute artists did a great job with those!
All in all, it was a busy weekend but a very enjoyable one. I was able to meet
some of my Internet Mayberry friends that I had only known online before, so
that was nice. And I met so many more friendly people. Other than the missing
purse scare, it was a fabulous weekend from start to finish. What made it even
better was that we had front-row seats for three of the shows we attended and a
third- or fourth-row seat for the other one. That meant I had a wonderful
opportunity to get some good pictures, which made me very happy! I have yet to
go through them all, but when I do, I will post some of them on Facebook.
I have another story to tell, but I will do that in a separate post.
Thelma Lou
(Janet)
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