Colorado knows bears. We’ve had Teddy bears, baseball Bears and even grizzly bears.
Now there’s a new bear on the block. A really big bear. Forty feet tall, to be exact, and he’s blue.
In a sculptural rendition by Denver artist Lawrence Argent, the playful critter peers into the east windows of the Colorado Convention Center.
With a wink and a smile, The Post welcomes this Ursa Major.
THOUGHTS ON THE BLUE BEAR
“It is awesome. It’s a very huge icon. The foot of that bear is probably bigger than our biggest bear curled up in a ball. I was thinking, What would it take to feed a bear that size? I couldn’t come up with a calculation, but it would be more than the food we have here for any given day.” – Steve Venne, area supervisor of carnivores, Denver Zoo
“I’m extremely conservative, and I frankly think that it’s probably a big waste of taxpayers’ money. But we’re in the mountains, and bears live out here, so I don’t have a problem with it other than
if they’re spending my money for it.” – Joseph Bear, Highlands Ranch resident
“I think it’s pretty cool looking. I liked it real well. We’ve got several things around here with bears on them. I’m building one that’s like a puzzle. It’ll be about 6 feet tall, but that’s about it. This will be tiny compared to that (blue bear).” – Gary McPherson, general manager, The Little Bear, Evergreen
“I thought that was pretty cool that it’s a bear, and our last names are Bear. It’s different. In our Indian ways, the bear is real powerful. It knows a lot of medicines.” – Harrison Bear, Denver resident
“Frankly, I love the bear, because bears are cool. It’s a wild thing, and it’s quite startling to see it out there in the street peering into the convention center. I’m certainly not a bear expert nor an art expert, but as a chief curator, more bears are better.” – Kirk Johnson, chief curator, Denver Museum of Nature & Science
Bearing a legacy
The big blue bear may be the biggest bruin Colorado has ever seen, but the state has plenty of other bear lore in its history:
President Theodore Roosevelt came to Glenwood Springs after his 1905 inauguration and set up a temporary White House at the Hotel Colorado. An avid hunter, he pursued bears in the surrounding mountains. One story credits maids at the Hotel Colorado with creating the “teddy bear,” although this appears more yarn than fact.
The first resident of the Denver Zoo was a small orphaned black bear named Billy Bryan. He was given to the city’s mayor in 1896.
Two of the zoo’s most popular denizens today are Koda and Nuka – a pair of polar bears born on Thanksgiving 2004.
Keepers estimate they now weigh more than 150 pounds.
In 1963, Sam Arnold, founder of the Fort Restaurant in Morrison, adopted Sissy, a 4-year-old Canadian black bear.
He wrote about his experiences with her in a book, “How I learned to Talk with Bears,” and she gained considerable celebrity.
The Denver Bears made their debut in August 1948 in Bears Stadium, which became Mile High Stadium in 1968.
First a Single-A baseball team and later Triple-A, they were sold in 1985 and renamed the Denver Zephyrs. They later relocated to New Orleans.
Still going strong, though, are the University of Northern Colorado Bears.
Blue bear specs
Title: “I See What You Mean”
Artist: Lawrence Argent, Denver
Fabricator: Kreysler & Associates, American Canyon, Calif.
Location: East side, Colorado
Convention Center, near 14th and Stout streets
Price: $424,400
Materials: Molded polymer concrete mounted on a steel framework
Surface: 4,000 interlocking triangles
Weight: 10,000 pounds
Height: 40 feet
Elbow-to-elbow width: 22 feet, 4 inches
Distance from front paws to rear: 24 feet, 4 inches
Black bears
Have color vision and a keen sense of smell.
Are good tree climbers and swimmers.
Are very intelligent and curious.
Run up to 35 miles per hour.
Weigh from 125 to 600 pounds.
Can go without food for up to seven months during hibernation in northern ranges.
Usually give birth to two or three cubs during the mother’s sleep every other year.
Might live more than 25 years in the wild.
Eat mostly berries, nuts, grasses, carrion and insect larvae.
Typically are shy and easily frightened.
Source: Americanbear.org/blackbearfacts.htm
Denver blues
The giant bear is not the only thing in Colorado drenched in blue. The Bluebird Theater is a popular concert venue on East Colfax Avenue, and football fans revel in the Broncos’ trademark blue and orange. The Western bluebird is a common sight around the state. And the Qwest signs light up the Denver skyline, annoying nearby neighbors trying to get some sleep.
