Auction Raises Money for Bear-y Good Causes

It’s official. People love da bears.

Downtown Hendersonville Inc. held its eighth public art auction on Saturday in front of the Historic Henderson County Courthouse. After a two-year absence, the Bearfootin’ bears were back, and the people responded enthusiastically with their checkbooks.

The auction raised an unofficial total of $21,000, half of which goes to DHI. The other half goes to charities selected by the winning bidders. Last year’s auction featured gigantic apple slices and barely broke $4,000. The year before it was the goats that roamed Main Street.

But with the bears back, the bidding grew fast and furious as auctioneer Stan Shelley urged the crowd gathered at the courthouse plaza to dig deep and bid high. A few bidding wars erupted as some of the prices for the bears climbed into the thousands.

Judy Stroud of State Farm Insurance didn’t have to spend quite that much. She was able to take home the bear her company sponsored for $450, making her quite pleased.

“It’s a great cause,” Stroud said as she stood beside her bear called the Good Neigh-Bear. “Half of the monies went to my favorite charity, which is Interfaith Assistance Ministries. The Good Neigh-Bear is our symbol for State Farm, and hopefully we give the good neighbor service, and that’s why we put the bear in and also to help downtown Hendersonville.”

Unfortunately, Stroud’s bear had to undergo some cosmetic restoration prior to auction. The bear was originally called the Super Neigh-Bear and was designed by Hendersonville High School art students. It sported a superhero’s cape and mask, but vandals damaged the bear’s cape and one of its feet.

Another Bearfootin' artist stepped up to give the State Farm bear an emergency makeover.

“Beth Donahue did the Boy Scout bear, and she was able to come through and do something in the clutch,” Stroud said.

The auction took place just a couple of weeks after DHI got a new executive director in Randy Jones, who worked previously as tourism director for Southport. He said the bears were back this year by popular demand.

“People are very happy to have the bears back,” Jones said.

Prior to the auction, DHI presented a new award. Through an online vote, people could select their favorite bear. The People’s Choice award went to the Circle of Life bear sponsored by Four Seasons – Compassion for Life and designed by artist Vicki Butner. At auction, the bear sold for $1,700.

The businesses and artists each had a chance to introduce themselves to the crowd and discuss their bears. Artist Gypsey Hundley created Hannah Flanagan’s bear called Please Don’t Feed. As an artist, she was happy her creativity could help some worthy causes.

“I had a lot of fun doing this project,” she said.

 

 

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