Bears
Meet the New Bern Bears: A First-Timer’s Downtown Walk
Choose a handful of downtown bears for your first outing and give yourself permission to stop when the group has had enough. A bear search can provide a useful shape for exploring New Bern: somewhere to begin, something to notice on the way, and an easy reason to pause.
The plan below uses four stopping areas. Treat an hour or more as a flexible planning allowance, not a measured walking time. Photos, children’s pace, weather, and detours will decide how much you cover. You can also choose just the first stop and still have a complete little outing.
Why are there bears around New Bern?
The bear connects New Bern with its namesake, Bern, Switzerland. The Bear Town Bears project’s history traces that relationship to the settlement established in 1710. The symbol appears in the city’s identity as well as in its public art.
The decorated fiberglass statues grew from New Bern’s 300th-anniversary celebrations in 2010. Local artists created individual designs with support from sponsors, and the bears were placed both downtown and farther afield. The official visitor bureau’s introduction is a useful starting point for that story.
Look at each statue as an individual artwork. Before reading its name, ask what catches your attention: a color, an object, a pattern, or a suggestion of someone’s work. There is no need to turn the outing into a test of how many bears you can collect.
Open the map before choosing your first stop
Open Insider’s Bears map and choose Downtown for a smaller starting area. Its pins generally mark host addresses, not exact statue positions. The Bear Town Bears digital-map page and Visit New Bern’s downloadable brochure provide additional references. The linked brochure is the 2025 edition available when this guide was checked on October 6, 2026.
Before leaving, compare your chosen stops with the available map. A listed address is a useful lead, but it cannot tell you whether a statue has been temporarily moved for work or whether access has changed that morning. If a bear is missing, continue with the walk instead of searching through private areas.
Prefer paper? The visitor bureau says free bear maps are available at the New Bern Visitors Center and participating businesses. Pick one up when convenient; downloading the brochure ahead of time also lets you arrive with a plan.
A possible first walk in four stopping areas
These are the location pairs recorded in the official brochure. They provide a proposed order for a short downtown outing, rather than a surveyed route or a promise of unrestricted access.
| Stop | Bear or bears listed | Location in the brochure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bearon De Graffenried; Greenzly | Union Point Park, 210 E. Front Street |
| 2 | Flag Bearer | New Bern City Hall, 300 Pollock Street |
| 3 | Mitchell Bear | Mitchell Hardware, 215 Craven Street |
| 4 | Harvest Bear | New Bern Farmer’s Market, 421 S. Front Street |
Begin at the park, then use the map to decide whether the group is ready to continue toward City Hall. Carry on to the Craven Street stop if everyone is comfortable, and make the market area your optional finish. Follow public pedestrian routes between stops and use marked crossings. Do not use a business’s doorway, driveway, or outdoor seating as a shortcut.
A market-area finish does not depend on shopping or finding the market open. Decide separately whether you want to add food, a purchase, or another attraction, and check that business’s hours before building it into the day.
For a smaller outing, keep Union Point Park as both your start and finish. Its city listing identifies restrooms and picnic tables. Use that as a chance to reset before deciding whether to go farther; check posted notices when you arrive.
On a festival day, check the organizer’s current street and access plan before deciding how much of this walk to attempt.
Make the search fit the people with you
With younger children, choose a task that ends quickly: find one unexpected detail, choose a favorite bear, then describe it to someone else. Let them take turns deciding what to look for. A self-imposed target of two or three discoveries may be more enjoyable than repeatedly promising that the next stop is the last one.
For older children or adults, try a different question at every stop. What might the artist want you to notice first? How does the design relate to the bear’s name? Which detail would you photograph to explain the artwork without showing the whole statue? These are conversation prompts, not official scavenger-hunt rules.
If anyone needs a shorter walk, use the map to select one area before starting. This guide does not certify curb ramps, surfaces, crossing conditions, or access around every statue. A companion can check the immediate approach while the rest of the group waits in a comfortable public spot.
Leave space for a rest stop
For a downtown pause, the city’s Cubhouse page lists public restrooms and seating at 223 Pollock Street. Eating and drinking are prohibited there. Luggage and bagged personal items are excluded, with diaper bags permitted for the changing stations. Check its opening information and plan refreshments elsewhere.
Bear Plaza, on Middle Street, adds a different kind of bear encounter: the city describes three carved wooden bears and benches. It is an optional pause, separate from the painted fiberglass stops in the table. There is no need to add it if the group is ready to finish.
Before leaving your vehicle, check the city’s parking information and the signs at your actual space. Give yourself enough time to get back without rushing through the final stops.
Save the wider collection for another outing
The project’s location directory includes indoor bears and entries marked as difficult to access. Treat a later trip beyond downtown as a separate plan, with the relevant property’s opening hours and permission checked first.
At the end of this walk, choose one bear you would show a friend and one detail you would have missed without stopping. If you still want another activity, use the Things to Do guide to choose what suits the time and energy you have left.