North Carolina Black Bear Festival

The North Carolina Black Bear Festival is a three-day annual event at the beginning of June in Plymouth, North Carolina. The festival celebrates the black bears as an important part of North Carolina’s cultural, historical and natural heritage. The black bear is the only species found in North Carolina or anywhere in the eastern United States.[1] This Festival has over thirty entertaining and bear-themed activities, such as live music, bear tours, museums, and helicopter rides, to celebrate the incredible animals. The first year it was held, the event received the "Rising Star Award" from the North Carolina Association of Festivals and Events (NCAF&E). The festival has gained a great amount of awareness, as it now has up to 30,000 attendees each year.[2]

History

The North Carolina Black Bear Festival was created by Tom Harrison, an entrepreneur and Director of Washington County Travel & Tourism Authority, in 2015. He is a local resident of Plymouth with a love for the outdoors as well as for bears, which is what sparked the idea. A few days after Harrison had the proposal to create a festival to honor the fact that North Carolina has the largest black bears as well as the largest global density,[3] he met with a group of individuals to plan the first event. With only three months of planning, the first festival was held and was enjoyed by hundreds of people. The creativity and fun atmosphere awarded the festival with the "Rising Star Award" and later was awarded the "Top Twenty Event award" as well as the "Best Event" from the Southeast Festival & Events Association.[2] Not only has the festival gained numerous awards, but it has also gained thousands of people in attendance. At the first festival, there were around 7,000 and now the number has gone up to around 30,000 with some from up to 18 different states.[2] Each year the festival brings new entertaining events to keep the public interested. Events include mechanical rides, wildlife muesuems, bear tours, helicopter rides, a black bear theatre, and even fishing. Harrision, who started the festival, also got National Black Bear Day started which is celebrated on the first Saturday of June [4]

Fifth anniversary

June 1–2, 2019 marks the North Carolina Black Bear Festival's 5th Anniversary. With a mission of celebrating these magnificent animals,[5] they have added several new experiences. 2019 marks the year of the first mechanical black bear ride at the festival as well as airboat rides, black bear tent theatre, and make your own bear. Each event is themed around black bears and is geared to educate the public on their existence. There are also bear tours, which take participants to a private farm where there are between twenty and fifty bears.[6] There is a firework show to end the night on Saturday.

This is a picture of a black bear in its natural habitat.

References
  1. https://www.ncwildlife.org/portals/0/learning/documents/profiles/blackbear.pdf
  2. "Black Bear Festival brings home top festival award". Washington Daily News. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  3. "NC Festival is a Bear Lover's Paradise". Carolina Country. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  4. "Return of the Award Winning NC Black Bear Festival!". WITN. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  5. "NC Black Bear Festival". PBS. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  6. "NC Black Bear Festival". WYFF News. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
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