Marion museum aims to ‘Do the Dew’

The Birthplace of Modern Mountain Dew museum is expected to draw thousands of tourists with a thirst for history when it opens in the small town of Marion in May 2026.

It will highlight the town’s role in improving a soda created in Tennessee in the 1940s. Bill Jones, general manager of Tip Corporation of America, conducted taste tests in Marion to revise the formula in 1961. Pepsi-Cola purchased the soda brand in 1964.

Marion entrepreneur Joe Ellis came up with the idea for the museum, aiming to help revitalize the town after the region’s textile and furniture industries moved overseas. It’ll be located in a 1940s former pharmacy on Main Street with a lunch counter where Jones conducted some of his taste tests.

“We have found the original stools, and they’ve been refurbished, so we’re anxious to recreate the actual lunch counter and to offer Mountain Dew,” Ellis says. “We are planning to have something called ‘Do your own Dew,’ where you get to be Mr. Jones and make a soft drink.”

The museum will also tell Jones’ story, feature videos of townspeople reminiscing about participating in his taste tests, and showcase Mountain Dew commercials, bottles and other paraphernalia.

Ellis and his partners own the building and plan to have the façade finished by the end of the year. Arnold Design Studio, a Christiansburg architectural firm, estimates the project will cost $1.2 million, he says. Fundraising is underway by Magnetic Tourism Attractions, a nonprofit that will run the museum.

Ellis set out to find Marion’s “magnets” in 2003 and helped restore The Lincoln Theatre, one of the last remaining Mayan Revival-style theaters in the world. It’s now home of the long-running PBS show “Song of the Mountains.”

Finding proof that Marion was the birthplace of modern Mountain Dew took longer. The town finally received a Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker highlighting that fact in May. PepsiCo representatives attended and granted approval for the museum’s name, Ellis says.

He says the museum could draw more than the roughly 50,000 people who visit The Birthplace of Pepsi, a smaller museum, store and soda fountain in New Bern, North Carolina.

“It will be tremendous for us,” says Ken Heath, executive director of Marion’s Community & Economic Development Department. “If we can sell on the sizzle, they’ll get here and they’ll love the steak.”