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Stewart Bear Festival 2007/2008

Fish Creek Bear Viewing Hyder Alaska Grizzly and 3 Cubs at Fish Creek Alaska Angie's Display Bear Days Stewart BC, 2007

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Learn about Stewart
 See summer pictures of Stewart and Alaska from Angie's 2005 trip
Paintings of Stewart Area

Bear Festival in Canada's North--Stewart B.C.

Stewart, BC, is at the remote end of a beautiful fjord at the southern tip of the Alaskan Pan Handle. In 2007 it was the site of the 1st Annual Bear Festival. Held near the long weekend in August, the festival offered a  bear's den of activities.  There are many festivities at the boardwalk right next to the Tourist Information Centre downtown.  In 2007 there was even a band from California entertaining all of the visitors.  There were dinners,  beer gardens, and pancake breakfasts.

There were also visits from Smoky the Bear and the local RCMP detachment.

You must check out the wonderful movies and pictures of the grizzly bears from Dave and Christy Criag  of the Stewart Mountain Lodge at http://www.stewartmountainlodge.com/summer.html. They provided Bear Safety information during the Bear Festival and helped organize a photo contest.

Stewart was alive with fun, music, entertainment, and art as several local crafters presented their wares.
Caroline of Boundary Gifts in Hyder, Alaska showed everyone how she made her beautiful glass beads.  Everyone enjoyed a little bit of cultural enrichment and some wonderful Russian food.  To everyone's delight the Watermelon Man was able to save some of the precious melons from the hungry bears that tried to break into his stores of the juicy fruit in Hyder.  These were special melons because he brought them up for all of the revelers for Canada Day/4th of July and saved these precious leftovers for Bear days.  The delicous melons had journeyed with him all of the way up from the southern US.

Artist Angie Roth McIntosh who lives in Penticton but has her art retreat in Stewart came to the Bear Festival and displayed her artwork and notecards.  She also set up a tent for kids to enjoy some painting and colouring of bear pictures.  At the end of the afternoon she held a free workshop for anyone who wanted to paint the glorious scene down the Portland Canal.  A fun time was had by all.  In 2008 the Bear Festival will be held from August 8-10th and McIntosh will be returning.  She is inviting any interested artists to join her in the village for some plein air painting in the region during the week before Bear Festival from August 4-8th.  They may contact McIntosh at angiemcintosh@shaw.ca or call 250 809-7932 in Canada.  On August 8th at 7 pm everyone is invited to an art show at the Harbour Light Store on main street (5th Ave) in Stewart.  They have featured the paintings and notecards of artist Angie Roth McIntosh who has made the area her second home.   Artists who wish to set up displays at the 2008 Pavilion Festivities on August 9th are asked to contact Christy at christycraig@gmail.com.  Artists are asked to make donations of their work to the Fund Raising dinner to be held on August 9th if they are able.  Also, any artists who wish to stay around in Stewart may attend the acrylic painting workshop from August 11-13th with New Zealand artist Lorna Allen http://www.lornaallan.vc.net.nz.  Cost of the painting workshop is $150.  Contact Angie to register for the acrylic workshop(angiemcintosh@shaw.ca or call 250 809-7932 in Canada).

In 2007 other activities at the Bear Festival included a lovely hike around the village trail to the big tree thanks to Evan and Sylvia of the Glacier B and B in Stewart who worked really hard to clear and prepare the path. Everyone had a wonderful walk.  There were streams to cross with log stepping stones and some very special visits to the giant tree.  The group also learned about some edible watermelon berries but the highlight was the huge tree.

Angie definitely agrees--the tree is huge as you can see it from its size behind her.

Ofcourse the stars of this very special show are the bears, especially the grizzly bears.  Here is the grizzly mother and her three cubs which we all have been watching since 2006 at the Bear Viewing Platform in Hyder.  This year they are gangly teenagers and next year they will be out on their own.  The best place for the grizzly viewing is at the viewing platform 15 minutes north of Hyder, Alaska along the road to Salmon Glacier.  To get their you will drive through Hyder.  While there make sure you stop at Carolines's Boundary Gift shop.  In 2007 I got to see some of the wonderful instruments that Caroline Stewart makes.  Then continue on until you get to the Bear viewing platform.  Make sure you pick up a pass at the post office or one of the shops that sells the passes to the platform as this helps pay  for the conservation staff who watch out for the bears and the tourists' safety at the platform.  The best time to catch the bears is for the early morning feed if you're up bright and early or around dusk for their evening snack.  We lucked out in 2007, seeing 7 grizzly bears late one evening.  It was quite funny because often all day a line up of very patient European tourists and photographers with amazing telescopic lenses sit and patiently wait.  Around dusk they get tired and leave for dinner--after 8pm.  This is when I'm usually out for my evening drive or coming back from catching the evening light on the glacier.  I usually make one last stop to see what's up and I got really lucky--seeing at first the mom and her cubs and then 3 different males showed up after they scared off the Mom and her babies.  After you check for bears make sure you continue on to go visit the Salmon Glacier about a 30-45 minute drive further up the Salmon River road which doubles back into Canada.  The glacier is spectacular. At the glacier viewpoint you will probably see the Bear Man, Mr. Keith Scott who travels out from New Brunswick to spend most of August up on the glacier.  He provides information about the formation of the area and alot of insight into the bears whom he has been encountering and camping out with up here in the mountains for many years.  Click here to get a copy of his latest CD and check for the kids colouring book due out the spring of 2008 or check out the shops in Stewart and Hyder or check with Keith yourself up at the Salmon Glacier.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GREAT BEAR PICTURES BY CHRISTY AND DAVE OF STEWART MTN LODGE

Main Street Hyder Alaska Acrylic Angie Roth McIntosh This image will be for sale at the Bear Festival Art Show Aug.8th	Settlers Cabin Acrylic by Angie McIntosh Stewart Museum This image will be for sale HarbourLight Art Show	Snow and Glacier Watercolour painted on Location Angie Roth McIntosh This image will be for sale at the Bear Festival Art Show Aug.8th