ANN ARBOR, MI — While many have written off 2020 as a year of gloom, there have been bright spots, and one of them is an adventurous teddy bear in Ann Arbor.
The stuffed toy outside Kathy Savit’s home on Brooklyn Avenue in the Burns Park neighborhood has been delighting passersby throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, getting into all kinds of whimsical situations since April.
“I call him Little Bear, although I think others have their own names for him,” said Savit, a cello teacher who has staged daily scenes with the bear under a maple tree along the sidewalk.
“He plays chess, he builds little houses out of sticks, he Rollerblades, he takes a little picnic basket and has a picnic out in the woods,” Savit said.
“He blows bubbles, he takes a bath, he sweeps his house, he plays target practice, he has a little fish bowl he looks at, he has a tiny dog that he walks, he has chickens that he feeds.”
Those are just some of the many cute and sometimes amusing situations in which Little Bear has found himself.
“I don’t know what the bear’s going to do from one morning to the next,” Savit jokes.
Little Bear has become a neighborhood attraction, with families making it a daily ritual to go see what he’s up to next.
“It’s been a constant parade of like little kid cuteness in front of my house,” said Savit’s neighbor, City Council Member Julie Grand, who has a front-row view of the phenomenon.
“I don’t know if she’s going to keep changing it. She still is, but it has a note that it’s going into hibernation soon,” Grand said recently. “But she’s still been changing outfits pretty daily. Thanksgiving was the most on point. She actually created a turkey, like out of clay, and it was so realistic looking.”
Savit has been surprised by the big reaction Little Bear has gotten from children and adults alike, and it goes to show how even simple things can bring joy, she said.
Some people have told her, “This was the best thing every day for the whole pandemic for me,” she said.
Adding to the fun, Savit said, is sometimes someone will sort of secretly, slightly change or add to the scene.
For instance, one time Little Bear was having tea with another friend and there was tea in the cups, and later most of the tea was carefully drunk from one cup.
And when Little Bear was playing chess, somebody moved the pieces into checkmate position.
Another day when Little Bear was catching fireflies, someone added ants to his jar.
“It’s been fun,” Savit said.
As the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum this year, Little Bear could be seen sitting with a circle of dolls of different races. And after the November election, he sat with a United States map puzzle with some states still out.
Some people have left notes and gifts for Little Bear, including a big zucchini, and two new bears joined him by surprise once, Savit said. Someone also brought him a tiny dessert cake for Thanksgiving, and someone left him jacks and a ball.
A stuffed bear sits below a "Hibernation, December 1" sign outside Kathy Savit's home on Brooklyn Avenue in the Burns Park neighborhood of Ann Arbor on Dec. 17, 2020. Savit has decorated the bear as a sort of diorama during the pandemic.Jacob Hamilton/MLive.com
Little Bear, while still outside and braving the snow in recent days, officially started hibernation Dec. 1, sleeping under his tree with a blanket and sleep mask.
Savit said she learned from some close relatives who are biologists that bears in Michigan don’t fully hibernate, so Little Bear has been up at times this month eating gingerbread cookies or shoveling around his den.
While it’s taken a lot of commitment to keep up, Savit said she’s been doing it not just for the neighborhood, but for her grandchildren in different parts of the country.
Each day, she sends them a photo of Little Bear’s latest adventures and they look forward to it, she said.
Since she’s taking the pandemic seriously, Savit notes she hasn’t made any unnecessary trips to buy supplies for Little Bear, using only items she has around the house.
And amid the fiery political debates of 2020, Little Bear also stayed nonpartisan, except for when he wore a pin endorsing Savit’s son, Eli Savit, in his bid for county prosecutor.
Eli Savit, who takes office Jan. 1, joked this week he appreciated Little Bear being a big supporter.
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The Link LonkDecember 25, 2020 at 09:30PM
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2020/12/adventurous-teddy-bear-brings-joy-whimsy-to-ann-arbor-neighborhood-amid-pandemic.html
Adventurous teddy bear brings joy, whimsy to Ann Arbor neighborhood amid pandemic - MLive.com
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