Your Rowan Favorites
Place to Eat: Go Burrito & Water’s Edge Bar & Grill
Outdoor Activity: High Rock Lake
Event or Festival: Cheerwine Festival, Brick Street Live
Mikey Wetzel
Owner, Go Burrito and Water’s Edge Dock and Grill
Owner, Go Burrito Franchise
Co-Owner, Go Burrito, Burlington
Native of Fremont, CA
Industry: Hospitality/Restaurant
Mike Wetzel would rather be on a boat in the middle of High Rock Lake than anywhere else. He has been a lake-dweller for his 15 years in Rowan County. The lake brought him here from the West Coast, where he worked for Xbox. It changed his lifestyle and his career, and now his extended family has migrated here from the West Coast.
His father and stepmom, his mother and stepfather, a sister and niece, both of whom married locally; and his nephew and fiancé (wife now) — they have all relocated to Rowan County. His nephew was sharing a rental house on the West Coast for $4,000 per month. “My family came here to visit and said, ‘This is a better place.’ It’s affordable, the quality of life, the pace of things ….”
“I feel like there is momentum here,” he says. “Every year, there are new and compelling businesses and restaurants. I’m attracted to momentum.”
A Unique Place
Salisbury-Rowan is “right in the middle of three cities and has the second largest lake in the state. We’re less than an hour from the cities. I don’t know of another place like this. Generally, if the lake is close to the city, the property is unaffordable.”
“It’s traffic-free, stress-free living!” he says. “And there are so many opportunities here that are unique to our county.”
Mikey owns Go Burrito and Water’s Edge Dock and Grill restaurants in Salisbury and is co-owner of Go Burrito in Burlington. He has franchised Go Burrito, which offers a California-style burrito with 20 ingredients.
‘Lake Shopping’
After making the decision to leave the West Coast for affordable lake property, Mikey and his wife “went lake shopping” and narrowed their search to Texas and North Carolina. “West Coast lakefront property is available for the rich and famous, of which I am neither,” he says. “North Carolina was the ‘Goldilocks’ story. Anything north is too cold and anything south is too hot. North Carolina ticked all the boxes. Then, it was a matter of looking at lakes. We wanted to be close to a metropolis with arts and airports.”
His favorite restaurants are his own. “Go Burrito was founded in Salisbury. It is a Salisbury ‘original,’ ” he says, referring to Rowan County’s popular slogan, Be an Original.™
“Not only is it the only rooftop seating in 50 miles, it overlooks the new park (Bell Tower Green) and the amphitheater. It the best place to eat and the best place to hang out.”
His favorite events are Brick Street Live, a former series of downtown concerts, and the Cheerwine Festival. “I love crowds and seeing people out and about, seeing the county,” he says. He also enjoys other community events, such as Music at the Mural, located across the street from Go Burrito, and Float the Goat on High Rock Lake, a concert that he organized on Goat Island to entertain lake-goers and raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
He continues working with technology on a volunteer basis with students. He helped East Rowan High School design a virtual reality lab. He speaks at schools on technology, small business ownership, and entrepreneurship. He has been president of the Rowan IDEA Center, a resource for entrepreneurial activities standing for Innovation, Development, Entrepreneurship, and Acceleration. “I like positive, forward-thinking,” he says, involving giving kids — and adults — a future.
Your Rowan Favorites
Place to Eat: Go Burrito & Water’s Edge Bar & Grill
Outdoor Activity: High Rock Lake
Event or Festival: Cheerwine Festival, Brick Street Live