For thirty-five years, I managed a local nonprofit organization and for most of those years my friend Frances was the director of another. Nonprofit work can bring its share of challenges and frustrations. When things got especially stressful, Frances and I would fantasize about one day writing a book on the Sheriff Andy Taylor Style of Nonprofit Management.

Of course, our inspiration was The Andy Griffith Show, a sitcom that ran in the 1960s, set in the mythical small town of Mayberry, NC and clearly based on Andy’s hometown of Mount Airy. Sheriff Taylor’s easy-going demeanor could fool people into overlooking his strength and wisdom. His humility was sometimes misconstrued as weakness. Sheriff Taylor didn’t need to carry a gun to gain respect. Every episode carried valuable lessons for the work Frances and I were doing.

Although the show went off the air in 1968, it’s still rerun more than fifty years later. The town of Mount Airy has wisely capitalized on the show’s popularity, drawing tourists to ride in a Mayberry sheriff’s car, eat a pork chop sandwich at Snappy’s Grill, or visit Floyd’s Barber Shop.

Katy and I visited on a warm August day and were disappointed that Mount Airy is feeling more these days like a kitschy tourist trap than a celebration of small-town values. Gift shops were focused on the show’s buffoonish Barney Fife rather than on Andy Taylor, the sheriff with a strong moral compass. We saw that Floyd’s Barber Shop has closed and I couldn’t help but wonder if Mount Airy’s days of exploiting its ties to a fifty-year-old show are coming to an end as well.

In spite of the disappointment of today’s Mount Airy, Andy’s words of wisdom still resonate across the years as clearly as ever. America’s current leaders would do well to listen and learn.

“You know, being the sheriff of Mayberry isn’t about keeping folks in line. It’s about keeping folks together.”—season 1, episode 16.

“A badge isn’t a license to be important. It’s a reminder to serve the people who gave it to you.”—season 1, episode 2.

“When enforcing the law, it’s important to use both your head and your heart. One without the other won’t get the job done.”—season 3, episode 20.

August 1, 2025 – County 67 – Surry