The Bears of Bear Plaza

The showpieces of Bear Plaza, located on Middle Street between South Front and Pollock streets, are its towering wooden black bear sculptures. The black bear is the symbol of the City of New Bern, and the bears of Bear Plaza are a nod to the city's heritage.

Woodcarver Tom Penney carved the original bears for a business in Pamlico County. When that business went under before the bears were delivered, Penney offered to sell them to the city. It was the spring of 1994.

"Once we saw them, we had to have them," said Susan Moffat-Thomas, executive director of the downtown revitalization group Swiss Bear. "They were perfect for Bear Plaza, which was basically empty at the time."

A fund-raising campaign to buy the bears didn't take long. By November of that year, Swiss Bear had raised the necessary funds, even a bit extra for the plaza's lights. Local people contributed to the effort to bring the bears to Bear Plaza, the majority of them contributing in the names of their grandchildren, whose names are memorialized on a plaque located in the plaza. Since New Bern is a retirees' haven, the majority of the children listed on the plaque do not live in New Bern. It's a special treat when they come to town to visit their grandparents and see their name on the Plaza wall.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the bears to fall victim to termites. The late Jeth Lindsey of Art of the Wild did his best over the years to save the bears, but despite his constant patching and valiant efforts, the bears continued to deteriorate. By spring 1998, the truth was apparent: No amount of patching could fix the damage caused by termites, and the bears would need to be replaced. And in September 1999, one of the bears toppled, either due to gusting winds or vandalism.

When a Mumfest trivia contest asked the question "What animals live in the downtown plaza?" no one was surprised to see, and contest organizers were amused by, such answers as "wooden bears and termites." By the time that bear toppled, however, Swiss Bear had received the necessary funds from the Municipal Service District Advisory Committee (a group of downtown property owners) to replace the bears. Swiss Bear tracked down Penney, now a resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

"We really like his work and wanted him to do the very same bears," Moffat-Thomas said.

In October 1999, Penney returned to New Bern and carved the biggest of the new bears during Mumfest. He later completed the other two. The new bears, carved from cypress and thoroughly pretreated to prevent termite damage, were placed on Bear Plaza in spring 2000. The new bears are so life-like, you almost expect Goldilocks to scamper through at any moment.