As many of us know as you walk through Boyertown you’ll see many painted fiberglass bears outside of the buildings around town. But why does Boyertown have so many bears?

In 2003 two artists, Paul and Jane Stahl, got an idea after being inspired by seeing donkeys and elephants in Washington D.C. and the original Cow Parade hosted in Chicago in 2000. The vision Stahl’s had secured its funding through the assistance from a grant awarded to Boyertown Area School District designed to support projects in which students and community worked together. The Stahl’s named this project Bear Fever.

The mission of Bear Fever was to develop greater community unity by having members of the community work together to bring this public art project to the community. Individuals can sponsor bears; businesses and non-profit organizations fund the sculptures, artists of all ages, professional artists, and students participate.

Students have written news articles, taken photos, created videos, and attended civic organization and local governmental meetings to secure sponsorships or promote the project. They went door-to-door seeking sponsors, made phone calls, and helped with fundraising and promotional efforts. Bear Fever has inspired other projects and events: puzzles, coloring books, scavenger hunts, posters, and Building a Better Boyertown’s “Coming Out of Hibernation Festival”.

The Bear Fever project has now produced eighty-two bears that have been added to Boyertown’s streets. The most recent one was added in May 2023 outside the Firefly cafe named Juju. There is also another Boyertown Bear that is planning to be added to the picnic area at Boyertown Community Park.

Since 2003 Bear Fever has spread throughout Boyertown and the Stahl’s are continuing this project saying “Bear Fever: we’re not looking for a cure” and have a website for the community to upload pictures of the bears and have information on how to have more bears put onto Boyertown streets. For more information click here.