Spoke too soon: There is a Hollywood Ending for Chrome Bear!

Well, BearFest 2009 is officially a wrap. Last night's hugely successful gala and auction up at the Log Cabin netted Easthampton City Arts and its amazingly talented artists over $54,000! A capacity crowd of artists, bankers, business owners, Williston School folks, and bear art enthusiasts alike rubbed elbows with each other and the 34 bears we've all come to know and love. As you can see in this shot, even the schoolkid-designed tabletop bears were in attendance...

(image by Patrick Brough)

A huge round of applause once again goes out to the core Easthampton Team that made it all happen. From Ellen Koteen, brainchild and grant-go-getter, to Briana Taylor, lead coordinator and the engine behind just about every aspect of BearFest, to J.P. Pasche, John Polak, Denise Riggs, co-chair, Stuart Beckley, our city planner, Amy Davis, designer of the original bear shape and form, and the rest of the ECA gang, these are the overworked and grossly underpaid (most aren't paid at all!) who did what it took and then some to make this event one that will be talked about for years to come...

(image by Patrick Brough)


It was a full house, and there were more than a few that came to play...

And even a few who came to party...

Silas Kopf, Aloha Bear creator, rocking the aloha! suit. Nice. I wonder if he'd let me borrow it for Halloween?

And wouldn't you know, Chrome Bear was brought back from his horrible demise, just in time to fetch over $2000 at the auction...

Actually, Michael MacTavish graciously volunteered his time to create a Chrome Bear II from scratch. Safe to say, the new owner of CB2 will be keeping him in a warm and safe place.


Kneeling next to Hiding Bear is creator Chrystal Popko. How psyched was she to see her bear fetch over $5000! Wow. I guess I'll just have to savor the month or so I got to hang with HB back in August...



The good news is at least a few of the bears were purchased by local folk who plan to return them to their original 'BearFest map' locations. Here's Marlies Stoddard, proprietor of Nashawannuck Gallery next door, standing next to Something Fishy bear, by Greg Stone. Marlies spearheaded a grass-roots effort to keep SF bear in the family, so to speak, and was able to gather donations from generous locals who really wanted this guy to stay, myself included. This one turned out to be a pretty heated bidding war, so big hat tip to her for the last minute working of the room fundraising at the gala...


(image by Patrick Brough)

You will likely see your old bear friends in a few unexpected spots too. The 'Bearon', created by appropriately red-topped for the night, Jim Johnson, was won by the owner of Packard's Bar, so you might expect to see this cool bear hanging above the bar someday soon...


(image by Patrick Brough)

Here's the complete list of winning bids.

Well, that ought to wrap it up too for BearFest Diaries installment number 57. I hope you enjoyed my coverage. It's been great fun. And thanks again to Patrick Brough (here's his great coverage) for kindly allowing me to swipe photos from his FB page and blog when mine didn't measure up.

By the way, we still have some Bear Tracks ice cream left, a few mugs and some of those cool bear posters, if you're needing one last bear fix. And I'm pretty sure the ECA office in the old town hall has t-shirts and other bear keepsakes left too.

And so the curtain closes on BearFest 2009. Nicely done.