A piece of Bern in Berne
You can see it from miles away as you come into town: a 160-foot clock tower rising over the corner of Main Street and US 27, built as a tribute to the famous Zytglogge tower in Bern, Switzerland. Dedicated in July 2010 after a roughly $3.5 million community effort, it's become the defining landmark of Berne — the pride of a town of four thousand that decided to build something remarkable together.
The glockenspiel show
Four times a day — at noon, 3, 6, and 9 PM — the tower comes alive. Twelve animated figures, each five and a half feet tall, emerge and circle to music, performing the story of Berne's founding, while a seven-foot bell ringer presides at the top and the carillon marks every hour in between. The show runs daily in warmer months (it rests during winter and bad weather), and watching visitors gather on the lawn a few minutes before the hour is a little Berne tradition of its own.
Around the plaza
The tower anchors a beautifully kept plaza: flower gardens planted in quilt patterns, a statue honoring the settlers who founded the town in 1852, a pavilion with picnic benches, restrooms, and a splash pad that keeps kids happy all summer. Don't miss the Swiss Canton Tree — the only one in the United States — displaying the coats of arms of all 26 Swiss cantons alongside those of the U.S., Switzerland, Indiana, Berne, Bern, and sister city Trachselwald, with a map of Switzerland on the back.
Time your meal around it
Here's the EatBerne.com play: the plaza sits in the middle of everything. Have lunch downtown and catch the noon show, get an afternoon coffee before the 3 o'clock, or — best of all — grab dinner at one of Berne's eateries and stroll over for the 6 or 9 PM performance with a cone from Grandma Stutzman's in hand. Dinner and a show, Berne style.