The City of Alamosa is home to a new life-sized grizzly bear sculpture painted by members of our community. Local artist Sarah Ramirez, along with her daughter Ashley, worked on the bear during the 2019 Alamosa Arts Festival downtown. The bear got wet during an unfortunate afternoon deluge, but has been restored and finished and is ready for love and adoration. Please join us in the City Hall lobby on Friday, December 20 at 6 p.m. for the dedication of this beautiful new City art addition. Light refreshments will be available.

How did the City acquire this bear? In 2007 Valley-Wide Health Systems held a fundraiser called The Grizzly Cultural Totems Project where 25 local artists joined forces to paint and otherwise adorn nine fiberglass, life-sized grizzly bears originally sculpted by wildlife artist Jim Gilmore. One magnificent bear was leftover and had been hibernating all these long years. We wanted a local artist to paint/treat it LIVE during the 2019 Arts Festival in Alamosa outside at Main and San Juan. Sarah and Ashley answered the call.

The City was gifted another of these rare bears by Valley-Wide Health Systems that was designed by the Art Faculty at Adams State University. Bearstream is proudly displayed in the lobby at City Hall. The new bear, whose name will be revealed at the dedication, joins Bearstream in the City Hall lobby space.