STILL TIME TO GIVE
CHECK OUT THE WEHA PAINTED BEARS!
L
ast spring, we promised to wipe away the blues that engulfed us all in 2020 and bring back a smile to your face with a whimsical parade of painted bears…. and so we did!
still support the fair’s beneficiary non-profits by scanning the QR code in person on the signage attached to each bear on display or click on the links provided on the pages that follow.
The WEHA Bear Fair has proved to be a spectacular exhibition and fundraiser, that has sent the spirits of West Hartford residents soaring…filled local shops and restaurants with oodles of visitors…and, most of all, help numerous non-profits carry on their important work.
The bears are not only beautiful… many of them also come with unexpected and amusing backstories and interesting tidbits of information that we can’t help but share. Read on…
Sponsored by 20/20Media, the fair brightened West Hartford’s Blue Back Square with a fabulous display of one dozen fiberglass bears, each one individually designed and decorated by a talented local artist and sponsored by a local business that selected a nonprofit organization to benefit from proceeds raised by visitors. Then, this month, when the autumn leaves started falling and the weather took a turn for the chilly — and it became clear that townspeople did not want to say goodbye to their beloved bears — we moved the bears indoors to Westfarms. And that’s where you can find until January. Which also means, you can
• Newington artist Joanna Cistulli wanted her Hartford HealthCare bear to be safe and secure — far from the sticky fingers of her curious children, so she and her husband removed the bay window of her indoor studio, brought the bear in, replaced the window…then took it out again for the trip out. • It was a bumpy road for the Juniper Homecare bear, who had to travel in the back of a pick-up truck across the ferry to and from Long Island, where the bear’s artist Taylor Talmage lives. • Bears weren’t the only thing on the mind of APK artist Bryan Wziontko this summer. His thoughts were also on his wedding, which took place just one day after he finished his bear.
• Yes, those are sweet little ladybugs hidden among the blueberries on Blueberry Bush bear created by artist Tao LaBossiere. And they’re not the only surprises for visitors to find! (Read all about the art of Tao on page 13 of this. issue. • Artist Corey Pane who designed Nuvola bear, as well as the mural in front of the town’s main library, is a proud graduate of our very own Conard High School. He painted his bear in a matter of hours before he caught a plane to Paris. • Artist Bill Dougal featured caricatures of "runners" on the Fleet Feet bear to encourage donations of sneakers to the homeless. • Artist Ray Talbot featured the handprints and footprints of actual pediatric cancer patients on his Ronald McDonald House bear. • Dog Star Rescue bear, Stella, by artists Renee Sawyer and Jackie Flock, took up residence on the site of what once was a tree…just in case any feline visitors needed to relive themselves. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go…and what better place for a cat to go than on the toes of a dog.
WEHA BEAR FAIR WAS CONCEIVED & PRESENTED BY
Strategic Marketing Event Marketing Social & Mutli-Media Production Publishing Creative Branding
20MEDIA20.COM
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18 Vol. 11, No. 4, 2021 west hartford magazine
WEHA Bear Fair photography by Todd Fairchild, shutterbugct.com
