Briggs notes that Abiy Addi is known in Tigray for the frenetic style of dancing called "Awri", as well as the quality of its honey.

"And round about the lower slopes, dimly seen through the haze, were many fantastic outlying peaks, square or spiky, like the mountains of a child's imagination.

[4] The British explorer Charles Beke passed through this town (which he called "A'biyad") 15 April 1843, and described it later as "the principal place of Tembien, and a large market-town.

By 1890, visitors described Abiy Addi as a small market town which handled various imported goods, such as mirrors made in France, cotton cloth from Manchester and Mumbai, as well as the usual local produce.

[6] Writing a few years later, Augustus B. Wylde described the Abiy Addi market, held on Saturdays, as of medium size.

[8] Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this town has a total population of 16,115, of whom 7,826 are men and 8,289 women.