Spring Break
A trip to the annual Mumfest of New Bern
A little rain never hurt anything
Von Lewis
Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: Features
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Held every October, Mumfest has been an event to remember for many town locals and visitors. Entrepreneurs from across the state set up stands along side downtown streets, spanning an area of 12 square blocks.
Among these booths you could find businesses advertising their services or selling their products, along with awareness booths, which aim to gather support for causes such as breast cancer, domestic violence and animal care.
Just in time for the political season, Mumfest even had Republican and Democratic booths to support the candidates running for election this November. The New Bern police and fire departments also had booths set up with informational and safety tips.
Along with commercial booths, individual vendors sold their wares and different cultural societies displayed their native treasures. From African to Chinese to Scottish to South American, the Mumfest is home to an array of cultural diversity.
Among the culture conscious booths was the Scottish Heritage Society (SHS), who set up shop during the festival.
"We do the Mumfest to help people find their affiliation; if they are Scottish, if they have a clan or district association and to inform people on the Scottish culture," said Judy Harkin, member of the SHS and chair of the Colonial Capital Scottish Festival.
The SHS not only offered help with finding a clan affiliation, but also provided a knighting service for anyone who desired to add a "Sir" or "Lady" to their birth name (not legally binding, of course).
Further down on Broad Street sat a booth displaying beautiful, South American jewelry; designed to look like what the Incans wore hundreds of years ago.
Andrea Cazon, a native of Bolivia, helped her mother and her younger sister run a booth.
"All of our jewelry is handmade with bamboo, a special kind of metal called alpaca, which is similar to stainless steel," said Cazon.
"I feel proud about my heritage and I feel great about the fact that people are willing to accept it," Cazon said. "Our customers always like what we do and are always complementing us. It makes me feel proud of my heritage and proud that this is my job."
With the exception of the weather, everything and everyone at the Mumfest exuded a positive attitude. Even when it started to rain, the festival goers were not about to leave. The rain fell and the people kept perusing booth after booth. The only things that stopped moving were the rides, for safety reasons.
Even Cowboy Bob stomped through the streets on his stilts and only stopped to have his picture taken with festival goers.
Soon the rain ceased and the rides warmed right back up.
This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.
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