Economic developers look forward to MumFest

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - As this year’s MumFest draws closer, WITN spoke with some of the organizations that make the family festival possible.

The main one is Swiss Bear Inc. The street organization for the City of New Bern is responsible for much of the economic development in the downtown area. And officials say MumFest is one of the contributors to development that is near and dear to the organization.

“It’s been around since 1980 it was set up to be a festival to draw people into our downtown area when downtown was not thriving the way it is today,” Lynne Harakal, Swiss Bear executive director said.

“It’s a family affair for me ‘cause they got the rise they got everything for the kids face painting,” New Bern resident Santario Murrell said.

For folks downtown, anticipation for this year’s MumFest after two prior years were riddled with health concerns from the pandemic is building.

“Enjoy the moment the crowd, the people you haven’t seen in a couple of years ‘cause you know it’s one of those events that brings people home,” Murrell said.

Harakal says development is an instrumental part of what keeps the downtown area bubbling with people and energy.

It’s a bubbly appeal that officials and patrons agree that MumFest contributes to.

“And then when we have big events like this, you wouldn’t have a business like Harris Teeter with that huge store coming into New Bern if we didn’t have this ripple effect that all stems from having a very, very healthy downtown area,” Harakal said.

This year’s MumFest will be accompanied by MumMonth adding several weekends of events including the WRNS MumFest Concert on Oct. 14th.

And CarolinaEast will sponsor the MumFeast — for October 21-22 — at various restaurants in downtown New Bern.

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