Best Week Ever draws thousands to South Bend

Residents say they’re not worried about people calling South Bend a dying city anymore after week of events around town brought more than 50,000 visitors to downtown.

“We were staffed to the brim, but it was such a great time, everyone had such a fun time,” said Hayley Vanheesbeke, a shift manager at the Chocolate Café.

Fun times came to an end Sunday evening around closing time at the Chocolate Café.

Employees say the store was packed all week long.

“Probably going to be one of our busier weekends of the year which was great,” said Vanheesbeke.

They were of course excited for more customers also pretty excited to see more people downtown.

“It’s great to see the other businesses on the street grow, especially the newer ones,” said Vanheesbeke.

And the neighbors still hanging out and about on the much more relaxed Sunday night were happy to see their city grow as well.

“You hear so much that South Bend has nothing to do, but it’s nice to see the community trying to bring people together that way,” said resident Tristan Goering.