I know here in the South we do things slower but really can we please finish our Downtown bridge sometime this year?

If you have not noticed, even though it is quite obvious, our Alfred Cunningham drawbridge has been closed for quite a long time, years in fact. It was projected to be completed and open Nov. 1st but now will be delayed until mid-January 2010.

I am not sure what the issue is but it sure would be nice to have two ways into New Bern again. I am sure the Downtown New Bern Businesses are ready for it to be open. Many store owners have said that having the bridge closed has hurt their businesses.

Here is the story from the Sun Journal.

This past weekend we had the Bridge Run which is an annual event to raise money for 8 local charities.

It was nice to have the old bridge there so that we could run the 5k from Bridgeton into Downtown New Bern. Since the bridge has been closed, we have had to run just in the Downtown area.

Here is a map of the course:

I will keep you posted on the actual opening date!

What do New Bern High School Foot Ball and the Mum Festival have in common, they both happened this past weekend.

The weekend started out on Friday night with New Bern High School playing New Hanover High School. It was a great defensive game and with out New Bern’s defense it would have been disastrous. After the game, several people made comments about the offense and that they did not know what was happening with New Bern’s offense. After what seemed to be forever, the game ended with New Hanover beating the Bears 15 to 8.

The weekend continued on Saturday with the MumFest. This is New Bern main festival for the year. They close all of the streets off downtown near Union Point Park. It was 87 degrees on Saturday when I went followed by rain. There were cars, food, games, music, and lot and lots of crafts.

Sunday signaled the end of the weekend and the festival. In the morning a new tradition began with a fun run that had runners all over the streets of Downtown New Bern. More food, crowds and rides then sadly at 5pm the festival was over.

Here is a picture I took at the corner of Broad and Front Street.

Come see why people like to read and learn about New Bern here.

Do you want to know where to stay when you visit New Bern?

Are you interested in our culture and history?

Where would you like to eat when you visit New Bern?

How is the Real Estate Market in New Bern Nc?

Can I afford to live there?

What type of jobs are there if I were to live in New Bern?

These questions and more can be answered in the New Bern Bear Blog.

The Epiphany girls soccer team are in their final days of the 2009 Soccer Season. They have had a great season and will move into a true conference next year as are all of the sports programs.

Friday May 9th, tomorrow in other words will be the girls last home game. On Monday and Tuesday, they will play in a Tournament in Jacksonville that will be a good challenge for them.

Click here to see the official Falcons Sport site 

Game time is 5pm

Location: YMCA New Bern   

Stay Tune for the results!    

As I get older, I wonder what will become of our mother earth if we the keepers do not do something to preserve it. Not only do we need to do this now but make sure future generations do the same.  Below are some of the things that you can do to make this happen.

So come on New Bern NC, Go Green with me!  

1. Replace your old light bulbs with CFL’s

2. Plant your own garden and use old garbage as fertilizer(Compost).

3. Use a washable water bottle and stop buying bottled water.

4. Don’t  leave your lights on if you are not home or not using them.

5. Raise the thermometer in the Summer and Lower your thermometer in the Winter.

6. Reuse water.

7. Take shorter showers and don’t leave the water running.

8.  Buy an energy efficient appliance and eventually replace all of them. 

9. Use the cloth sacks that many stores now sell instead of plastic or paper bags.

Today was a sad day for me as I drove into the parking lot of our local Goody’s store. Goody’s announced just a few weeks ago that they would be closing their doors for good.

As I waited to get into the store, I spoke with a woman who also could not believe that our New Bern store was closing.  We spoke about the state of the economy and how it has affected New Bern. I had asked her if she had hear about the lay offs at Hatteras Yachts. She told me that her husband was one of the lucky ones who did not get laid off from Hatteras but she said it would not be long before her husband lost his job. Many stories such as this one are being told all over the area from gas stations to major industries, our area has not been spared by what is occurring around the globe.

The very sad part about this is the story of the employees. When I was checking out last Sunday, I spoke with a sales clerk. She said that there was no warning of the stores impending doom, in fact she learned about the closing from the news. It is beyond my comprehension that a company does not have the decency to tell it’s employees the truth before they hear it from outside sources.

Check out this link for more information on the stores future: Goody’s Store Closing

 Over this past weekend, I saw clowns, bands, floats and Lighted boats all in one day!

On Saturday, the New Bern Parade started at 4pm. It began on the upper end of Broad street, ran down the middle of Craven

Street and ended at the Sheraton Hotel.

The Flotilla began at dark at Union Point Park. The Marine Corp brought their best to begin it all.

 Today was a great day at Keller Williams Realty in New Bern!

At 10:30am today a group of 12 Agents gathered in our training room to move over 300 bags of food from our office onto the Salvation Army truck.

    As I was waiting for the truck I spoke with a social worker at the Salvation Army. She said that our gifts could not have come at a better time. She said that the shelves were completely bear and she still had 20 families that she needed to feed. Families are going to the Salvation army in higher numbers this year due to the economic situation in the US.

Food, clothing and toys are needed still for the holidays.

Please continue to give for one day you may need to be the recipient!

Here are the directions to on of the stores in New Bern: Directions 

After years of North Carolina Voting Republican in the Presidential election, we finally decided to vote for a Democrat!

Here is the final total: Obama: 2,123,395 votes to McCain’s: 2,109,402 votes.

For a breakdown county by county go to this site.

Craven county on the whole, which includes New Bern and Havelock, voted for McCain. 56.9% McCAin to 42.6% Obama.

Finally after record high profit gains by the gas companies and no money in the average Joe’s pocket book, gas prices have dropped.

After reaching nearly $4.50 cents a gallon in New Bern, today we see $2.99 cents a gallon.

What happened besides pure greed that we had to experience record high gas prices over night and continued that trend until this past week?