Adding Color to the Drab Streetscape...a grass roots effort

In the early and mid 1980’s, when downtown was at its lowest point, people joined together in a real grass roots effort to turn the downtown around. There was a tremendous amount of energy put forth by shop owners, volunteers, Governor’s Walk and Swiss Bear to create a multitude of activities and events  to attract people downtown... little princess talent shows, antique car shows, the Swiss Bear Festival and Spring Arts to name a few.  It was a time of people joining together and coming up with creative strategies to brighten the street scape.

One idea to add color, especially during national holidays, and brighten up the bleakness of the street, numerous overhead wires, broken and patched concrete sidewalks and treeless, Swiss Bear and the newly established Downtown Business & Professional Association came up with the idea of lining the streets with American flags.  Some of the sidewalks had holes near the curb that held flag poles at some point in the past, that were filled with dirt and debris. In June of 1986, we asked Charlie Kimbrell, then Director of Public Works, if he could drill three inch holes in the sidewalks, close to the curb and clean out the existing ones. He agreed and  drilled 30 holes, which totaled over 75 when the old holes were cleaned out.

We were all very excited and there was more cooperation among the shop owners then we had dreamed of. Catherine Hadnott, owner of Berne Emporium, came up with the idea to buy 75 eight foot, 3” in diameter closet poles for $12.85 a piece and attach the flags to the poles. Charles Blythe of Branches, furnished the flags at cost. A large group of volunteers and shop owners gathered in O. Marks and assembled them over a period of several days. The goal was to have them assembled and ready to put on the streets in time for Flag Day, June 14.

On June 14, every merchant put their flags out and the street looked glorious. A special ceremony was held in Bear Plaza that included a summary of the history of the American flag presented by the Elks Lodge #764 assisted by Troop 13 Boy Scouts. For Independence Day weekend, Troop 13 Scouts staffed the State, City, American and Swiss Bear flags in a ceremony in Bear Plaza. Fred Tracey was the emcee. Uncle Sam and Swiss Bear’s Bernie roamed at large. O. Marks had movies for the kids and an antique toy show and merchants had sidewalk sales. It was a grand holiday and we were all ecstatic…downtown was coming alive.  

Flag Presentaion - Bear Plaza 1986

Many merchants continued to put the flags out every morning for several years until we had the Plants Your Roots in Downtown New Bern campaign which raised funds to purchase trees. The City cut openings in the sidewalks and the trees remained until they were replaced when major street scape improvements began in the mid-1990’s.

The flag project and many other projects, showed how the private sector rose to the occasion to save their downtown. It truly was a time of working together in a collective effort to regain a vibrant downtown.  

Tell us what you think.

Susan Moffat Thomas

Executive Director