If a person could capture the face, the spirit and the history of Mount Airy in a single image, what would it be? That’s a question the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History is asking local residents as part of a new exhibit called simply “Faces” as part Mount Airy’s 125 birthday celebration this year.

The exhibit, scheduled to open in November, offers an opportunity for local residents to become actively involved in the exhibit design process by contributing photos that they feel represent life in Mount Airy. The photos could be images of children at Reeves, a grandmother’s wedding photo, a family Christmas, fishing on the Ararat or just about anything that exemplifies life in Mount Airy both past and present.

According to Matt Edwards, executive director at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History, “We’re very excited about the community involvement component of this project. It really gives area residents a chance to shape the ‘face’ of this exhibit by contributing their images — the contributors are really the ones who are going to tell the story.”

The photos collected for the exhibit will be digitally archived and reproduced as large format images. Those images will then be included in the final display that will provide visitors with a three-dimension graphic collage that represents the collective face of Mount Airy both past and present.

Photo contributors will be asked to pay a $50 participation fee to be part of the “Faces” exhibit. Funds collected will be used to cover the costs of digital archiving of and reproduction of the images for use in the final exhibit. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the large format images will be returned to participants for display in their homes.

Persons interested in contributing photos to the exhibit should contact the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History at 786-4478. Submissions will be accepted through Oct. 1, so dig out those photo albums and make selections soon.