“The Andy Griffith Show” and “I Love Lucy” are iconic television programs with an enduring comfort food-like quality for many that will soon come to life in Jackson County.
Mayberry Lucy Days will be held April 12-13 in Historic Granville – a vintage village set up as a community museum with a number of historical attractions already branded as “Tennessee’s Mayberry Town.”
But the Mayberry Lucy Days festival is all about the shows named for Andy Griffith and Lucille Ball and their characters. Around 3,000 people attended last year’s festivities and this year’s fourth annual event has planners expecting about 4,000.
“It’s becoming known,” Granville Museum – Historic Granville President Randall Clemons said about Mayberry Lucy Days, which draws people from all over Tennessee and outside the state.
“People are happy at these events,” said Dixie Griffith, daughter of Andy Griffith, who returns this year to participate in the festival. “It’s a wonderful way to honor my dad’s memory, to be part of something that meant so much to my dad and to thousands of people.”
Karen Knotts, daughter of Don Knotts, known for playing Barney Fife in “The Andy Griffith Show,” is part of this year’s expansion and will attend Mayberry Lucy Days for the first time.
“My dad’s character was just magic,” Karen Knotts said. “He was hilarious, but he was vulnerable, too, and I think men really relate to Barney Fife in a special way. In a way, he was picked on. He let the audience see that hurt and tried to compensate for it.
“Andy Griffith was the one who kept the integrity of the show. No matter how funny a joke was, if it wasn’t true to any character it had to be thrown out.”
Insights into the shows will also be provided by Keith Thibodeaux, who played Johnny Paul Jason on “The Andy Griffith Show” and Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy” as well as Dennis Rush, who played Howie on “The Andy Griffith Show” as part of the schedule.The number of tribute artists has also grown with characters who play Andy, Barney, Floyd, Opie, Aunt Bee, Otis, Gomer, Mr. Darling, Lucy, Ricky and more doing reenactments. A number of contests are scheduled.
