Built Together
In Surry County, community isn’t something residents take for granted – it’s something actively built together. Across Mount Airy, Elkin, Dobson, Pilot Mountain and other communities, people from diverse backgrounds are choosing to put down roots and help shape the region’s future.
Surry County’s growth is the product of people, whether it’s from Latin America, Slovakia or from right here at home, who made a conscious decision to invest in this place. They opened studios and breweries, built industries and businesses, organized festivals and funded community programs, turning a region known for its scenery into one increasingly known for its people.
A Place to Gather
It is that outlook that drives Thirsty Souls Brewing in downtown Mount Airy. Founded by Slovak natives Jan and Maria Kriska, who came to the area as physicians, the brewery was launched on a shared passion for home brewing that gradually became something bigger. The brewery’s logo – a hiker scaling a mountain with a keg on his back – is a nod to Jan’s Slovak roots, where he once carried casks of beer and wine through the countryside, according to the brewery’s website. Housed in a former funeral home, the brewery even bears a name that pays playful tribute to the building’s previous life.
“It’s not the beer or the pizza – which we want to believe is pretty good – but the experience of feeling at home that we are selling,” Kriska says. “We want people to feel at home and want to come back, to see it as a community, not just a pizza place or brewery.” Kriska has watched Mount Airy transform over the years and takes pride in the role Thirsty Souls has played in it.
“The area has changed a lot; it’s certainly not a sleepy town,” Kriska says. “There has been
amazing growth, and we’re happy to be a small part of it.
Building the Future
A key part of the region’s evolution is tied to the Latino community, whose influence extends across community life, from cultural events to local businesses.
In downtown Mount Airy, Latino Friday has grown from a Cinco de Mayo celebration into a monthly gathering that fills the Market Street Arts & Entertainment District with live music, dancing and authentic cuisine.
Family-friendly gatherings such as Día de los Muertos draw crowds to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History before spilling into a block party on Market Street, complete with interactive altar displays and traditional music. Local Latin dance groups perform throughout the year, and that cultural energy is reflected in everyday businesses.
Latino-owned restaurants like El Agavero Mexicano and El Aguacate, neighborhood staples like Super Mercado Esmeralda and Gonzales Produce, and newer ventures like Varsity Club Pilates reflect a vibrant dining, retail and wellness scene shaped by the community’s entrepreneurial energy.
That impact extends beyond Main Street. Surry County is home to dozens of metal building and carport manufacturers – many of them Latino-owned – including Eagle Carports, Carport Central and Carolina Carports. Together, they employ more than 1,000 workers in manufacturing, with at least double that in installation, making the industry one of the county’s most significant economic engines.
Many also invest in the community, sponsoring events like the Autumn Leaves Festival and supporting Mount Airy City Schools’ Dual- Language Immersion (DLI) Program.
Creativity as Connection
For Cris Tadesse, founder of Crisanthemum Studios in Pilot Mountain, it was Surry County’s strong sense of community that convinced her to build her life and business here.
“There’s something special about a place where people know each other, support each other and genuinely want to see small businesses succeed,” she says. “It didn’t take long for me to realize this wasn’t just a place to live; it was a place where I could build something meaningful.”
After discovering pottery in 2019, Tadesse left a corporate career to open her studio, a space built around the belief that making something by hand can change how a person sees themselves.
“It’s not just about the finished piece, it’s about the moment when someone realizes they created something meaningful with their own hands,” she says.
Today, Crisanthemum Studios is a creative space and a gathering place that is welcoming and judgment-free, where people from different walks of life share a table and, in doing so, share something of themselves. That sense of connection, she says, is part of what has allowed Surry County’s creative community to grow.
Tadesse sees the potential clearly. “I truly believe it can become a destination for arts, culture and experience,” she says, “a place people come not just to visit, but to feel something.”
