News

LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Meet all 20 bears (2)

Twenty bears will line Main Street through Oct. 24.

By Marissa Treible, Published: May 13, 2015

The newest collection of downtown bears stood silently under cloaks at the First Citizens Bank Plaza on Friday while a chatty crowd of onlookers congregated for the unveiling.

This year’s collection includes 20 bears, each sponsored by a local business and painted by a local artist. On Oct. 24, the bears will be auctioned off, with the proceeds benefitting a local non-profit of the sponsor’s choice.
“When I started in 2011, we had 10 bears,” said Downtown Economic Development Director Lew Holloway, who emceed his fifth Bearfootin’ Public Art Walk. “The next year we had 11, and then last year we jumped up to 20, and we had 20 again this year. It’s a reflection of a community that has a lot of really wonderful non-profits that are doing a lot of wonderful things to be the kind of great community that it is.”
The first bears were implemented in 2003, and since then the tradition has remained popular with both tourists and locals alike. Joi Back, a Hendersonville resident since 1973 and an employee at Mike’s on Main, says that the bears have had several positive effect on the community.
“I’ve worked there for 10 years, and you’d be surprised how many people come to Hendersonville just to see the bears,” Back said. “They’re a big draw to Hendersonville, and it’s good because it gets people all the way around town. We are so blessed in our community to have so many talented artists, and I think this is one of the best things that Hendersonville offers to the community.”
Adrienne Brady, president of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one of the beneficiaries of this year’s auction, says that the bears are an attraction for people near and far.
“I think the bears give something not only for the tourists to see, but also for the people to show that they are interested in their own town,” she said. “The local community itself loves to come down and see them, and so they are very obviously interested in them.”
Often whimsical and at times inscribed with an important message, the bears appeal to young and old.
“There is the joy that kids get out of the whole event, but there is also the adults who are sponsoring and buying them, so it’s a love at both levels,” Holloway said. “And you also get a mix of artists. There’s projects by really fabulous professional artists, and those that are done by the arts class at the local high school. You’re really getting the full range of the community.”