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Ours is an all American story - typical of how communities grew up all across our great nation. While our story takes place in the back country of northwestern North Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is likely to bear many similarities to the development of crossroads, towns, and cities throughout America.
Mount Airy Museum Of Regional History
Museum hosting firefighter round table discussion
Museum Hosts New Exhibit - Extreme Sports, Beyond Human Limits
A new exhibit that might just get one's blood pumping is opening at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History.
"Extreme Sports: Beyond Human Limits, is an action-packed ride through the adrenaline-fueled world of extreme sports," museum officials said. "This highly interactive exhibition, developed and produced by Science North in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre, brings visitors inside the minds and bodies of extreme athletes. It explores the psychology of their motivations and the science of extreme sports, including wingsuit flying, ice and rock climbing, parkour, free diving, and many more."
Visitors will discover what it takes to maximize their potential as they explore the psychology and science behind the thrills and spills of adventure sports. They will explore the science behind athletes as they learn about the strength and mentality that fuels extreme sports athletes’ determination.
In this exhibition, visitors will have the chance to:
- Engage with friends and family in a multitude of physical, multimedia and creative challenges.
- Hear from athletes that participate in these extreme activities and how they have persevered through failures and challenges in their sports.
- Learn about the researchers who study extreme athletes; those who rescue them when things go wrong; and the innovators who create new and novel equipment, and dispel myths and misconceptions surrounding extreme sports.
"From exhilarating speeds, breathtaking heights and profound depths to uncontrolled variables such as weather or terrain–this exhibition tells the stories of how athletes prepare and train extensively to carefully evaluate risks, endure intense physical and mental challenges, and maintain a calm focus," exhibit organizers said of the display.
“Extreme Sports is an extremely engaging and interactive exhibit, designed for people of all ages," said Matt Edwards, executive director of the Mount Airy museum. "It is a high energy look at extreme sports requiring high technical skill and intense mental focus through the lens of the athletes and researchers, along with the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History’s signature hands-on and interactive exhibits with great and relevant science that visitors of all ages will enjoy.”
Extreme Sports is open at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History through to April 26. For more information, visit sciencenorthinternationalsales.com/beyondhumanlimits or contact the museum at 336-786-4478.
Power of words on display at Read-in
Words can be powerful — especially those expressed on paper by talented novelists or poets which come to life when spoken by others who capture the true spirit of the writers’ thoughts. This was the case Wednesday afternoon during the 15th-Annual African American Read-In at Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, hosted by members of the local Plaid Cloth Literary Society.More than 20 people were drawn to the event, part of a nationwide observance occurring for 35 years. Wednesday afternoon’s gathering at the museum was held in conjunction with Black History Month.Those attending were invited to select works written by African Americans and read a poem or excerpt from a book — or they could just listen. Troubling legacyWhile Wednesday’s event drew a multi-racial group of local residents, the material read focused on the black experience in the U.S. — not always pleasing portraits, but ones making listeners think long and hard about the implications involved. This was reflected in a selection by Olivia Jessup for the Read-In, “Let America Be America Again,” a poem by Langston Hughes. It explores the notion that the American dream is not truly realized because not everyone can attain it, as cited in passages read by Jessup:“Equality is in the air we breathe,” Hughes wrote, yet “there’s never been equality for me, nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’” Passages delivered by Bisse Bowman Wednesday addressed racial stereotypes as highlighted in a book from Lisa Jones, “Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex and Hair.” This included use of the word “auntie” in referring to black women in a way that’s disrespectful or diminishes their status, such as the Aunt Jemima pancake image. As rendered by Bowman, the “Bulletproof Diva” author mentioned this in writing about a real-life relative. “You couldn’t put a red bandanna on my Aunt Cora with a 10-foot pole,” according to Jones. “My aunt has never been an auntie.” Roosevelt Pitts Jr., another reader Wednesday, chose the book “Black People Are Indigenous to the Americas” by Kimberly Norton as his topic. It is billed as a research work which makes the case that blacks have existed in this part of the world long before they were thought to be here. Pitts told Wednesday’s audience that his would prove helpful to him after thinking, “who am I — where did I come from?” as a child. “When all is said and done, I realized I was here,” Pitts added. “This is my home.” The power of words themselves also was highlighted at Wednesday’s African American Read-In by Millie Hiatt in reading lines from Marc Worthy, a poet born in Winston-Salem: “Lock me up and throw away the key,” Worthy wrote in part, “because I speak with a vigorous voice.” In view of a takeoff Sunday by Super Bowl halftime performer Kendrick Lamar on the 1970s poem and song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Olivia Jessup read the original words. “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is a satirical work that mingles the unrest of the black community with the TV marketing influences of the Seventies.One will not be able to “skip out for beer during commercials, because the revolution will not be televised,” the original states. “NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32,” and “there will be no highlights on the 11 o’clock news,” the song continues. “The Revolution will not go better with a Coke.” Works by Maya Angelou also were among those highlighted Wednesday.
Kids Greet New Year at the Museum
Long before the badge rose in “Mayberry” and the ball dropped in Times Square, the stately walls of Mount Airy Museum of Regional History were rocking with local pre-schoolers and parents celebrating the arrival of 2025.This included the customary countdown toward the arrival of the new year, which those gathered on the third floor of the museum observed at 12 o’clock sharp.Only it was 12 as in noon, with the official arrival of New Year’s Day in the Eastern Time Zone still a dozen hours away.
Which Mount Airy Museum of Regional History was scheduled to do at midnight Tuesday in its courtyard area with the raising of a replica sheriff’s badge honoring the Andy Taylor character.The pre-schoolers got a head start on that with the NoonYear’s Eve Celebration Party, which began at 11 a.m.
“We’ve got 35 in here today,” said museum Director of Education and Programming Seth Gibbons.Looking around the swirl of festivities on the third floor Tuesday, the event seemed just like any other New Year’s Eve party.The kids wore hats and Mardi Gras-type beads as they tooted horns and danced to music provided by local DJ Blanton Youell which resounded throughout the facility.There were flashing lights, screens showing videos and even a bubble machine, among other attractions.
“Our project goal is to provide the young kids with something to do on New Year’s Eve,” Gibbons said of the fact that midnight is after their bedtime.“It’s giving them something to celebrate.” The NoonYear’s Eve party was climaxed with a customary countdown to 12, when an avalanche of balloons cascaded from the ceiling as everyone cheered.
But did the pre-schoolers really appreciate any philosophical concepts surrounding another 365-day period emerging and the sentimental significance of that ala “Auld Lang Syne?”“They don’t,” said Barbara Blood of Mount Airy, who was attending the event for the first time with her grandsons Trevor, 4, and Trace Hudson, 3. “This is a play time,” Blood said of their main motivation, not unlike what adult celebrants would do later that day.
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