Winter 2021 MayberryMAGAZINE Mayberry’s First Couple Keeping fans together In His DNA Sharing old-time music Andy Griffith Show The holiday episode Mayberry Trivia Test your knowledge What’s Happening? Comprehensive calendar ISSUE 29 MTA123120M.indd 1 1/15/21 2:29 PM Table of Contents Cover Story — Two Chairs No Waiting Mayberry’s First Couple? Modesty would prevent them from wanting the title, but their efforts throughout the year keeps Mayberry fans and friends connected — in person and online. Page 8 A true old-time musician Old time and blue grass music was a big part of The Andy Griffith Show, because Andy was set on the path toward his entertainment career as a young boy, when he began taking music lessons. Once he found stardom, he kept true to his bluegrass and musical roots. Jim Vipperman, a seventh- generation musician who grew up listening to the same music that Andy learned, is keeping that tradition alive. Page 5 When Scrooge visited Mayberry Columnist, writer, and “The Andy Griffith Show” historian Randy Turner takes a look at fan-favorite episode “Christmas Story,” showing the parallels to that all-time Christmas tale, “A Step Back in Time Christmas Carol,” and even showing how a character’s name is & Visit Our Many Vendors related to that long-ago Christmas story by Charles Dickens. Page 10 What To Do, What To Do… Mount Pilot The pandemic has put a halt to many shows and events over Antique Mall the course of 2020, but there might be a few concerts, shows, Downtown 107-109 E Main Street Pilot Mountain, North Carolina and events stirring in Mount Airy — the real-life Mayberry — 336-368-1617 this winter and spring. New Items Arriving Daily! Page 12 WINTER 2021 So, You Think You Know • The Andy Griffith Show? Well, let’s see just how deep your knowledge runs. Test your Andy Griffith knowledge with our Mayberry Trivia Quiz! Page 14 The region’s ONLY comprehensive guide to entertainment, fun, and all things Mayberry, reaching more than 40,000 70044270 local residents AND tourists with each edition! Furniture - Toys - Pottery & Glassware - Coca Cola Published by The Mount Airy News Auto Parts and Accessories - Coins - Memorabilia - Gas Signs MAYBERRY MAGAZINE | 319 N. Renfro Street, Mount Airy, NC 27030 2 MTA123120M.indd 2 1/15/21 2:29 PM Make an impression in a 2020 CORSAIR RESERVE MAYBERRY MAGAZINE Lincoln Corsair Reserve models shown. Available at certified EV dealers only. • Turbocharged 2.3L I-4 Engine • Premium Audio System Scenic Lincoln • Intelligent All-Wheel Drive (AWD) Hwy 601, Mount Airy, NC 27030 336-789-9591 • • Lincoln Co-Pilot360 Plus Package sceniclincoln.com WINTER 2021 • Hands Free Liftgate • Blind Spot Sensor 70043746 | 3 MTA123120M.indd 3 1/15/21 2:29 PM 319 North Renfro Street Mount Airy, North Carolina 27030 336.786.4141 Publisher Sandra Hurley MayberryMagazine [email protected] Get 4 issues delivered to Editor John Peters your home [email protected] Only Contributing Writers/Photographers Subscribe Randy Turner, Tom Joyce $ 00 Now! Circulation & Distribution Director 28. Ferris Simpson Winter 2020 [email protected] Advertising Director Serena Bowman [email protected] Sales Consultants MAGAZINE Kim Cagle, Kathy Swaney, Mayberry Samantha Turner, & Bob Ward Cover and Publication Design Darla Allen Mount Airy History A look at Mayberry’s past Roots Run Deep Andy Griffith’s family history American Healthcare Services, Inc. ........15 Cookie Contest A Hit Event helps local charity Looking for Something To Do? Mayberry Calendar of Events Beamer Kirkman Realty ..............................11 ISSUE 25 See Inside! C & B Lumber Inc. ......................................13 For faster service or to give Elkin Creek Vineyard..................................14 a gift, call (336) 786-4141. Delivery and contact information: Jarrito’s Authentic Mexican Cuisine ......... 5 Name: _________________________________ WINTER 2021 Address: _______________________________ Mount Airy Equipment Co., Inc. ...............16 • City: ______________ State: ____ Zip: _______ Mount Airy Museum Of Regional History .7 Phone: _________________________________ Email: _________________________________ Mount Pilot Antique Mall ............................ 2 Pay by credit card: Mullins Pawn Shop ....................................14 Card #: ____-____-____-____ Expiration date: __ / __ Roger’s Realty & Auction Co., Inc. ..............7 Signature:__________________________________ Mail Your Check to Scenic Lincoln ............................................. 3 Mayberry Magazine, 319 N. Renfro Street, Mount Airy, NC 27030 MAYBERRY MAGAZINE 70035734 | 4 MTA123120M.indd 4 1/15/21 2:29 PM MAYBERRY’S Music Man? A painting made of Jim Vipperman, foreground, when he was a boy, with his father and brother. led to the stage and an acting ca- Chock full of stringed in- A glass display case holds tro- Vipperman draws reer, but music remained close struments — fiddles, guitars, phies and mementos, even a to Griffith’s heart, especially mandolins, even a dobro — it belt buckle whose significance on generations of in his show about the fictional looks like a musical version of would be readily available to town of Mayberry, where blue an antique or novelty store. old-time bluegrass fans. In be- talent to play, teach grass and old time music was Many of the instruments hang tween the various instruments often featured. from the walls, others are held hang scads of photos, some of Today, there are more such in floor stands, still others lean scenes snapped more than five MAYBERRY MAGAZINE By John Peters musicians than you can shake in darkened corners, or against [email protected] a stick at playing among the various nooks and crannies. See MUSIC | 6 hills and valleys in and around The late Andy Griffith is Griffith’s hometown, but one known the world over as an ac- musician in particular stands tor and comedian, the star of out, both because of his fam- the famous The Andy Griffith ily pedigree and because nearly Show, along with countless oth- everyone who’s passed through er acting credits. local schools back in Griffiths’ AuthENtiC MExiCAN CuiSiNE That love of performance was hometown has sat under his tu- kindled while he was still in telage. in Yadkinville, N.C. school, a young man who had We pride ourselves in treating • Jim Vipperman is a soft- our customers like family and the opportunity to delve into spoken yet immensely talented we will always use quality ingredients WINTER 2021 the world of music thanks in man, who often plies his trade We offer to prepare your food. Come dine large part to a school music pro- as a music teacher in a simple, special occasion in with us any day of the week from catering for 11:00 am to 9:00pm. gram and a Moravian minister cozy shop that’s a little dark in events and Our dInnEr mEnu Is ExpandIng mOrE in his hometown of Mount Airy businesses all ThE TImE! the shadowy corners, brightly and private who taught the youngster. illuminated where the sun spills events. 216 East Elm St. | Yadkinville, N.C. 27055 Eat In or Take Out! (336) 677-1447 | eljarritonc.com | That love of music eventually through the front windows. 70042803 5 MTA123120M.indd 5 1/15/21 2:29 PM Jim Vipperman looks at a belt buckle his father passed down to him, a buckle his dad earned as part of blue grass legend Bill Monroe’s band in the Jim Vipperman instructing a young musician during the Surry Arts Council early 1950s. Traditional Arts Program for Students. decades ago. “I come from seven genera- said. So, he took a more classi- perman said he was hooked. The store — named Vips Vio- tions of musicians,” he says of cal training route on the violin, From then until he was 18, Vip- lins — is a veritable repository his family, which hails from studying for nearly two years. perman said he spent nearly of musical history, decades of Meadows of Dan, Virginia. His That soon morphed into every weekend racing. Even af- collective memories, the com- grandfather, John Willis Vip- learning to play other stringed ter leaving formal competitive bined experiences of genera- perman, and his father, Johnny instruments, mostly by just racing for the adult workforce, tions of musicians stretching far Vipperman, played with some of trying out an instrument, then Vipperman has continued riding beyond the familiar Blue Ridge the most influential musicians working until he could master regularly. Over the years he’s Mountains of Surry County. in the genre. Jim Vipperman how to play, with no formal les- ridden all sorts of courses — And in the center of it all Vip- said both his grandfather, with sons. and been in some awful crashes. perman, the living, breathing his banjo, and his dad, on guitar, He said his dad was a man- One, on New Year’s Day 2007, personification of all that is con- were among the first musicians ager at Dixie Music Company, landed him in the hospital with tained in the shop. who played regularly in the early which gave him an opportunity eight broken ribs, a broken col- Vipperman is known to nearly days of WPAQ. to see a wide variety of instru- larbone, and a number of other everyone in Surry County who’s “They were good friends with ments. injuries. even thought of picking up a Ralph Epperson,” he says of his “I just hung out there and Yet he never, for even a sec- stringed instrument. For al- dad, granddad, and their rela- learned as much as I could,” ond, considered giving up the most 30 years he’s been giving tionship with the founder of the he said. “I got to play on some dare-devilish hobby. Even now, free weekly musical lessons at station. of the nicest instruments you nearly four decades after first Surry Arts Council, through the His father also played with could ever imagine.” climbing on a bike — and after Traditional Arts Program for the legendary Bill Monroe — His desire to own some of what he casually refers to as Students (known around here thus earning the belt buckle the those instruments is also what more than a half-dozen more simply as the TAPS program).