A busy time of year is kicking up into full gear. The time for relaxing and vacationing is quickly coming to an end for residents in and around Surry County.

The first sign the end of the R&R season is here is the start of school in systems nearby like Carroll and Patrick counties, Va., which began this week. That means local students will be climbing onto big yellow buses soon and heading for a place of learning all too soon.

Next comes Labor Day and the busy gun show and flea market weekend in nearby Hillsville, Va., which means thousands of people from here and far away will be coming to the area to see what kind of goodies they can hunt down and buy. This means extremely heavy traffic in this area as well.

Then just a couple of weeks later will come one of Mount Airy’s two biggest festivals of the year — Mayberry Days. It will be a weekend of all things Mayberry related, parades, contests, trivia, autograph sessions with stars of the show and the list goes on and on. The weekend also means the addition of thousands of people to Mount Airy’s population.

Just two weeks after Mayberry Days comes the annual three-day Autumn Leaves Festival — when locals and visitors come together on the streets of downtown Mount Airy to shop for Christmas gifts, craft items and other goodies while enjoying local food favorites like collard green sandwiches and ground steak sandwiches.

And while one might think that ends the chaos of the “busy” season, it doesn’t mean the normal things celebrated across the country won’t be filling this area’s schedule as well — Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas parades and then Christmas and New Year.

Once school starts, the chaos ensues. And this is only a sprinkling of the events that will surely keep everyone in this area busy through the end of the calendar year.

It’s tiring, yet extremely exciting, just to think about it all. But it also makes a person’s head spin just trying to keep up with it.

On smaller realms, it also means time for the cornshucking frolic at Horne Creek Living Historical Farm, BBQ fundraisers, chicken stew fundraisers, school fundraisers, fall football, volleyball and other sporting events ...

Man, Surry County, and the surrounding area, is a busy place to live.

Wendy Byerly Wood is the associate editor of The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at wbyerly-wood@mtairynews.com or 719-1923.