NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – The city is on display as hundreds of community leaders pack downtown and the riverfront convention center to study its main street success and give local businesses a boost in the process. <\/p>\n
More than 800 community and economic development leaders from across North Carolina are in New Bern Tuesday for the 25th annual NC Main Street and Rural Planning Conference. <\/p>\n
The three-day event, organized by the North Carolina Department of Commerce and its N.C. Main Street and Rural Planning Center is being held at the Riverfront Convention Center and throughout downtown.<\/p>\n
The NC Main Street Conference is recognized as the largest statewide downtown revitalization conference in the nation. The theme for this year\u2019s gathering, Main Street: Inspiring Impactful Change, focuses on how the Main Street program drives meaningful, long-term transformation in communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Bern has always been a vibrant community. I think the vibrancy just continues to grow in this downtown,\u201d NC Main Street and Rural Planning Center director Liz Parham said. <\/p>\n
New Bern was one of the first Main Street communities in North Carolina, joining the program in 1980. The city has hosted the conference several times before, including in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic moved the event online for a few years.<\/p>\n
Since then, local leaders say a lot has changed. The Riverfront Convention Center has been fully restored, older buildings have been reused in new ways, and additional businesses have opened downtown.<\/p>\n
Swiss Bear, Inc., New Bern\u2019s nonprofit Main Street program, points to projects like The Harvey \u2014 an older commercial building that\u2019s now an e-boutique hotel \u2014 as an example of how historic structures can be reimagined instead of remaining vacant.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the exciting businesses here that I think a lot of people are interested to learn about is our e-boutique hotels,\u201d said Swiss Bear Executive Director Karen Sullivan. \u201cWe have The Harvey, that\u2019s one of the new e-boutique hotels that, when you look at that building and [see how] they turned it into that, instead of just turning it into another office building\u2026 It\u2019s about having a vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said she hopes conference attendees will leave New Bern with ideas they can adapt back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to see that and go back to their communities energized and excited about how they can do just like we did and rebuild their downtown,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n
The conference footprint extends beyond the convention center. Attendees are encouraged to leave the building at midday to eat, shop, and explore downtown New Bern, which means more people on the sidewalks and more customers in businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the fact that they pretty much close this down from noon to 2 p.m., so they have to go into downtown and eat,\u201d said Jeff Serio, owner of Pinky\u2019s Pub & Eatery. \u201cAnything that puts people on the street to walk our beautiful city and enjoy it, to see what we have to offer, I think it\u2019s a good thing. I think we have a lot to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across downtown, other restaurant owners share that sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know if we have a thousand seats or restaurants down here, so we\u2019re going to be packed,\u201d said Tyler Griffin, owner of Baxter\u2019s 1892. \u201cEveryone is going to be packed when we get back, so it\u2019s great for business across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serio and Griffin both say that while they welcome the extra foot traffic, they are also using the conference as a chance to learn what\u2019s working in other communities and bring those ideas back to their own businesses.<\/p>\n
The NC Main Street Conference runs through Thursday, with toolkit sessions, breakout workshops, awards, and guided tours continuing in downtown New Bern.<\/p>\n
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