A Great Weekend for the Bike MS Ride

The New Bern Riverfront Convention Center welcomes cyclists to register for the 2013 Historic New Bern Bike MS event.

It’s  heartwarming and inspiring to see so many cyclists ride through our  town for such a good cause–The Historic New Bern Bike MS Ride. All of us New Bernians were happy to have them visit  our town from all over and we look forward to seeing them again next year. Although I haven’t seen if this year’s registration numbers topped last year’s 2,200 riders,  the New Bern Sun Journal is reporting that the event had more than 500 volunteers. However, I did hear that all the New Bern hotels and motels, campgrounds and bed and breakfasts in town were full, leaving some riders to check into hotels in nearby Havelock.

Union Point Park was a beehive of activity from Friday morning on through this evening. Not only was this the Start/Finish line, it’s also where many riders set up camp and vendors were selling their bicycling goods. Some may  say that traffic was a little snarled around there over the past couple of days, but think of all the good this kind of event does for New Bern and those battling MS. Thanks to the riders for making this one  of the  most rewarding New Bern events to occur in our  town.

HashTagging Around Town

New Bern, NC may be a 300-year-old town but in recent months, the residents, visitors and business owners here have really started to embrace technology.  This is especially true when it comes to hashtags. Just as Facebook brought us all together with friends and people we had lost touch with over the years, hashtags are allowing us to live vicariously through complete strangers.

Being able to view hashtags is just as good of a reason as any to sign up for Instagram. Sure, sharing  your photos is fun but having an Instagram account is the only way you search for hashtags like #newbern, #shopnewbern or #tryonpalace. Just a few seconds of searching  and suddenly you become connected with hundreds of people that can inspire you to see the area in a whole new way. People can show you hidden spots you may have overlooked, event planners can showcase the ideal wedding venue and businesses can promote their  latest bargains. 

On the other hand, hashtags on Instagram are still way behind the mark when it comes to specific events.  No matter how beautiful the picture may be, it’s still usually taken after the event happens. That’s not the  best source  for  discovering New Bern’s calendar of events, but maybe it will inspire you to go next year.

Of course, there may be even more tags out there that I haven’t even heard of yet. The connections and tags are truly limitless. So let’s get a list going.

What are your favorite New Bern-related hashtags? Let us know below in a comment or share it on our InsiderInfo Facebook page.