Desperate to find the perfect way to impress your Sweetheart on Valentine’s Day? The Southern Gentlemen Barbershop Chorus has the perfect solution. Simply order a Singing Valentine by calling 252-288-9132.
The cost this year has been reduced to $25 because of the hardships caused by Hurricane Florence and can be paid by credit card or check in advance. Monies have been used in part to support the charitable giving of the Chorus to MERCI Clinic, The Coastal Women’s Shelter and New Beginnings, the opioid recovery program of Bayboro’s Hope Clinic.
A Barbershop Quartet in traditional attire will deliver two sentimental love songs, a long stemmed Red Rose, a Valentine Card signed with your personal message and will provide a photograph to record the special moment. A complimentary ticket to the Chorus’ annual show in April is included.
This will take place on Thursday, Feb. 14 for non-military and on Wednesday, Feb. 13 for wives and sweethearts of our military (which will be provided free of charge). Deliveries can be made to residences, businesses, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, gyms, restaurants, or any place else between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the New Bern and Havelock areas.
To order a Singing Valentine, call 252-288-9132. (Active duty military can order a free Singing Valentine by emailing David Parker.
Posted in Events, Fundraiser
Craven Community College will celebrate Black History Month with events hosted on the New Bern and Havelock campuses. “Hidden Figures and Community Involvement” will be held Friday, Feb. 8 from 6-8 p.m. on the New Bern Campus and “Unfolding History: Black History Reflections” will be held Thursday, Feb. 14 from 4:30-6 p.m. on the Havelock Campus.
“Hidden Figures and Community Involvement” will celebrate the ways African American organizations and individuals in the region have improved local communities. Guest speaker Chris Suggs, who founded the nonprofit Kinston Teens, Inc. at the age of 14, will discuss his work in Kinston and the positive impact young people can have on their own communities. Other organizations participating in the event include the Craven CC Foundation, Neuse River Bridge Run, Craven Arts Council, Tryon Palace and New Bern Civic Theatre.
“I love being able to coordinate events that bring our community, students, staff and faculty together in meaningful ways,” said Emily Stewart, Craven CC campus life coordinator. “A community college not only provides a place to further your educational goals, but it is a place to come together and connect and learn from each other. When a community can celebrate together, everyone thrives.”
“Hidden Figures and Community Involvement” will be held in the Student Center on the New Bern Campus. There will be refreshments, ticket giveaways to the New Bern Civic Theatre play Miss Evers’ Boys and community organizations on hand to help participants discover different ways they can get involved. Craven CC’s singing student ambassador group, Encore!, will also perform.
On the Havelock Campus, historian Nelson McDaniel will present “Unfolding History: Black History Reflections” as an exploration of African American achievements and contributions to Craven County’s history.
McDaniel was born in New Bern and attended UNC-Chapel Hill, George Washington and Georgetown Universities, New York University and the University of Lyon. For 30 years, he was a teacher at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. McDaniel has served in various volunteer capacities, including the New Bern 300th, New Bern Historical Society, Camps Sea Gull and Seafarer, Christ Church, Tryon Palace Foundation, Carolina East Foundation, Kellenberger Foundation, Craven Arts Council, Coastal Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Swiss Bear.
“Black history laid the foundation for much of American history,” said Sylvia King, Craven CC director of student services on the Havelock Campus. “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks paved the way for so many of the freedoms that we enjoy today. For example, many people went to see the movie “Hidden Figures” and were surprised to learn that Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who worked with NASA to put John Glenn into orbit, was an African American.”
The presentation will take place in the Institute of Aeronautical Technology Hangar at 305 Cunningham Blvd. Light refreshments will be served.
“This event is to empower us with knowledge so that we can continue to grow as Americans and to teach the generations to come that the United States is great,” said King. “Knowing the past opens the door to the future—this statement is true not just for the past but for the history that is in the making today.”
Both events are free and open to the public. For more information on the New Bern event, contact Stewart at 252-514-0562 or stewarte@cravencc.edu. For information on the Havelock event, contact King at 252-444-2120 orkingsy@cravencc.edu.
Posted in Craven Community College, Events
Wit Tuttell, the Executive Director of Visit NC, announced the 2019 Cycle North Carolina “Mountains to Coast” Route in a pre-recorded video released at the Cycle North Carolina Route Announcement Party, held at Tobacco Road Sports Café & Brewery in downtown Raleigh on January 30.
To view the video of the “Mountains to Coast” Tour announcement, visit the Mountains to Coast portion of the website at https://www.ncsports.org/ (the video will be posted by Thursday, Jan 31st).
The twenty-first annual ride is scheduled for a Blowing Rock to Atlantic Beach route, from September 28 to October 5, 2019. With beautiful tourist stops along scenic back roads, the “Mountains to Coast” trek is the highlight of the year for many cyclists from across the nation.
Cycle North Carolina will begin its full-service, cross-state ride on September 28th in Blowing Rock, and will arrive at the Atlantic Beach Boardwalk on October 5th, with 1,100 bicyclists expected to participate. Over the course of the week, riders will bike an average of 60 miles per day. Additional overnight stays are planned for the towns of Hickory, Spencer, Siler City, Clayton, Greenville and New Bern.
The Cycle North Carolina “Mountains to Coast” Tour is the state’s only cross-state, fully-supported ride created in 1999 with the N.C. Division of Tourism, Capital Broadcasting Company, the N.C. Department of Transportation and North Carolina Amateur Sports as founding partners. Cycle North Carolina was developed to promote North Carolina’s scenic beauty, heritage tourism, visitor attractions, historic sites, state parks, fitness, healthy lifestyles and the benefits of bicycling to individuals and our state. During the past 20 years, Cycle North Carolina has stopped overnight in more than 100 North Carolina towns and visited over 700 North Carolina communities.
Online registration is open at www.ncsports.org. Cycle North Carolina will be capping registration at 1,100 riders, so interested riders are encouraged to register early, to avoid missing out on the highlight of the year for bicycling in North Carolina.
In addition to the “Mountains to Coast” Tour, Cycle North Carolina will host the Coastal Ride in Edenton, NC, April 26-28, 2019. Cycle North Carolina will also host its sixth annual Mountain Ride in Brevard, NC, August 3-4, 2019. Registration both rides is open at www.ncsports.org.
Cycle North Carolina is presented by Retire NC. Partner organizations of Cycle North Carolina include: Powerade, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, BB&T, Capitol Broadcasting Company, Harris Teeter, Morningstar Law Group, the N.C. Department of Transportation and Cycling Spoken Here.
Posted in Events
March 15, 2019, Sham-Rockin’ 2019, St Patrick’s Celebration, traditional dinner and cash bar, and the band, TRAINWRECK … NC History Center, New Bern NC … advance tickets @ $20 ($25 at the door or available on-line www.NewBernRotaryClub.org) with a link to the EventBrite page.
Posted in Events
Did you go by the new Harris Teeter since it opened on Wednesday? Odds are pretty good that you did.
In a small town like New Bern, folks here can be relied on to try something new. Remember when Cook Out opened?
On opening day, I saw city officials including Jeff Odham, in whose ward the new Harris Teeter is located, and City Manager Mark Stephens proudly roaming the vast floor space of the gleaming new store.
Coke Mann, a partner with Columbia Development Group, developer of the shopping center, was quoted in the Sun Journal crediting Odham and Mayor Dana Outlaw for their bringing the super-expanded HT to New Bern.
I saw lots of regular people combing through the almost 100,000-foot feet of shopping space, which is more than just a simple supermarket. (Some say the store actually has 105,000 square feet of floor space.)
We are not wedded to a particular grocery store. We shop at Publix most often, but not exclusively, and mainly due to its modern and wide selection coupled with its less crowded aisles.
With the opening of the new Harris Teeter, that may change.
The store replaces a 55,000-square-foot store on South Glenburnie Road, which closed the day before the new store opened.
It is claimed to be the largest Harris Teeter out of the chain’s 246 stores. Some media outlets have called it the largest in the world, but since its world is pretty much contained within Southern states, that’s a somewhat pretentious claim.
Still, it’s plenty big, and within it are sections that by themselves are impressively large.
There is a Starbucks inside the Harris Teeter, just as there was at the old location, but this one has a dining area that has to make this particular Starbucks one of the largest in the world, and that’s saying something.
Then there is the food court, contained within an area that could be a nice-size grocery store all by itself.
There is a bakery, fresh produce and meats, a deli, a sushi bar, a buffet, a burger bar, a specialty bar with changing themes, and a bar-bar. Yes, a bar … where you can get beer and wine by the glass.
As for the grocery aisles, they are so long they are subdivided, with a third row intersecting at the middle. Looking from one end toward the other, the aisles extend almost as far as the eye can see.
Filling all those aisles with merchandise must be a challenge by itself. I have not looked deeply into it, but the few places I did look showed a much-expanded variety of brands and varieties.
Staffing this store must be equally challenging. I counted six people working at the Starbucks counter, four at the burger bar, three at the beer and wine bar, and so on.
I am not sure if they staffed up for opening week or if they plan to maintain that staffing level.
Sarah, Mark and I went there on opening day and had dinner. We bought a couple of items from the grocery aisles before going home.
We returned on Saturday to find the same buzz one encounters when surrounded by hundreds of happy people. The store is large enough to accommodate a thousand customers without feeling overly crowded.
Sarah got several selections from the sushi train and described the quality as good as any restaurant in New Bern. I went for simple–a burger and fries. The way I figure it, if you can’t do a burger and fries right, then what can you do right?
And boy, did they do it right. It paired nicely with the glass of Mother Earth pale ale that I got at the bar.
While waiting for my order, I ran into four people I knew, and that’s the great thing about a venue like this. It’s a magnet that draws people together, and for more than one purpose.
Before, you would go to Harris Teeter for groceries. Maybe you might grab something from the salad bar or deli or the Starbucks counter, but there was really nothing that set it apart from any other modern grocery store.
This Harris Teeter is not just a retailer, it is a community amenity. You can literally spend the day there, enjoying a fresh breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a couple of glasses of beer or wine later in the day before actually doing any grocery shopping.
Note: the beer and wine bar opens at 10 a.m. daily except Sundays, when it opens at 11 a.m. But who’s judging?
The parking lot is large and full but sufficient and well laid out. Other stores in the shopping center, which is called New Bern Marketplace, round out the remaining two-thirds of retail floor space at the 34-acre, 325,000-square-food retail venue.
One thing it has over Downtown New Bern: parking is not limited to two hours.
So what can you expect at the Teeter?
Greeting you as you arrive at one of the entrances is the floral counter managed by Mary Gierie-Merrell, who Mayor Outlaw has described as New Bern’s unofficial mayor.
At that same entrance, off to the right, is the Starbucks counter with its spacious and open dining area. It is equipped with tables and booths and two big-screen TVs. The window-wall is lined with a long counter with tall chairs for computer users and enough USB ports and electric sockets for every two chairs.
Beyond is the amazing food court, and to its left, the expansive grocery aisles.
One glitch was WiFi. Though it is provided, I was unable to connect to the internet using it. Another quibble is that if you want to sit at a table and plug in your device or computer to a power source, there are just two tables within range of just one wall socket, and they are right underneath a big-screen TV. That may be by design. It is understandable why a store would not want its tables taken up by people using computers all day.
The impacts of the new Harris Teeter on New Bern will be interesting to see.
It will undoubtedly cut into business of other existing grocery stores. But being so large, it will draw shoppers from outside New Bern and maybe from outside Craven County.
When the N.C. 43 connector is extended from U.S. 70 to U.S. 17 in the next few years, it will make access to New Bern Marketplace easier to reach from Pitt and Lenoir residents. It’s already the easiest retail center to reach in New Bern from Jones and Onslow counties.
As I said, this Harris Teeter is not just a store, it is a community amenity.
Fun facts
Posted in Achievements, Activities, Aldermen, Beer, Board of Aldermen, Business, Commentary, Community, Craven County, Downtown New Bern, Economy, Economy and Employment, Entertainment, Events, Food, Mayor, New Bern, New Bern business and commerce, Opinion
A handout photo shows the Brews & Bites event in 2017.
Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow (ACT) will host the 3rd Annual Brews & Bites on Friday, April 27 from 5-10:00 p.m. The event will be located at the end of Broad Street beside the Neuse River, and will feature good music, great food, craft beer and wine.
Attendees will enjoy a beautiful evening on the river’s edge sampling unique local craft brews and delicious offerings from area food trucks. As an added bonus this year, guests will experience great live music from local band Hot Buttered Grits.
Brews & Bites was created as a community event to raise awareness for ACT’s efforts to protect and grow Cherry Point Marine Air Station — this area’s largest economic engine and the largest employer in Craven and Carteret counties. All proceeds will benefit continuing efforts to cement the successful future of the base, which includes the next-generation F-35B Lightning II.
“When organizing the event, we want to make sure that we call on area businesses to highlight the importance of the base to our economy,” said Will Lewis, President of ACT and Havelock mayor. “Without the base, our local economy would suffer an annual loss of over $2 billion and that would be crippling.”
With the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Cherry Point is poised for positive growth, but that could change at any given time. ACT will continue to advocate for MCAS Cherry Point, FRC East and its civilian enterprises, and counts on the community’s support for continued success.
Tickets for the event are $35 per person for general admission, which includes a commemorative tasting glass and drinks from our craft brew selection. VIP tickets are available for $50 per person and include early access at 4:00 p.m., one-off/limited beers not available with general admission, a commemorative tasting glass, and extra swag. To purchase tickets online, visit www.alliesforcherrypoint.com.
Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow (ACT) advocates for the existence and success of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Fleet Readiness Center East and its civilian enterprises. Board members include leaders from Craven, Carteret, Pamlico, and Jones counties who work closely with Congressional and legislative delegations to push for laws and budget appropriations that will help preserve and grow MCAS Cherry Point—a base crucial to the success of the U.S. military and the economy of the region.
The historic Ghent Neighborhood in New Bern is hosting its fourth annual Mardi Gras Parade and Festival on Saturday, March 3, from noon to 5 p.m.
The parade will be led again this year by the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing Band and begins at 2 p.m, with festivities and parade line-up beginning at noon on the 1400 block of Spencer Avenue.
This year’s parade and festivities will feature the Craven Brass Quintet, the Antique Car Club, and Jonkonnu. Musicians include Alisa Mike, Middle Street Jazz, and Junkroad Crossing, and will be joined by vendors including Brewery 99, The Tiny Tornado food truck, and more.
After the parade, the festival will continue until 5 p.m. on Spencer Avenue on the 1500 and 1600 blocks between Third and Fifth Streets, and will feature food, live music, performers, and vendors.
All ages are welcome and encouraged to dress in costume. For more information and to register for the parade visit www.newbernmardigras.com, or call Pam at 252-637-5281.
New Bern Now
