Organizers for the 58th annual McCleary Bear Festival are readying to host thousands for a “par-tea.”
The bear fest will be held beginning on Friday, July 7, and features yearly favorites like the softball tournament, live music and bear stew to be held throughout the weekend.
The parade begins at noon. It will be led by the kiddie parade. The grand parade will see floats from throughout Washington State including Port Townsend and Sequim, as well as local floats and participants. In total, organizers expect some 40-50 parade entries.
This year’s stew will feature 100 percent bear meat (some years back, beef was added because of a lack of bear meat – in recent years, however, the meat has been 100 percent bear).
“It usually comes from the Fish and Wildlife Department,” said festival organizer Tanya Beavers. “Hunters get permits for nuisance bears, and that’s usually where the bear meat comes from.”
This year, the festival will feature more activities for children, including a bounce house in the park, pony rides and a petting zoo. The bounce house will be available all weekend, the pony rides will be available on Saturday and the petting zoo on Sunday. Children can buy a bracelet for $10 that allows them access to any of the kids features all weekend.
Each year, the festival draws a large crowd to the city. This year is expected to be no different.
“We expect several thousand over the weekend, but I really have no idea of how many,” Beavers said. “Last year, the girls (of the Bear Festival Court) sold about 2,000 buttons, and we sold more at the park. We probably sold close to 3,000 buttons last year.”
And the Bear Festival Court has been putting in effort all year to publicize the local event. The Bear Festival float has been in a handful of floats throughout the state, and after bear fest has come and gone, the court will continue to represent McCleary in parades for a total of eight appearances. The float recently appeared in the Apple Blossom Carnival in Wenatchee.
The Bear Festival Queen currently is Natalee Beavers who recently finished her freshman year at Capital High School. Princesses Tiffani Davison and Annabel Morris round out the court. A new queen will be named on Friday, June 30.
Tanya Beavers said the festival can always use more volunteers, but this year’s event received a good response from the community.
Past Bear Festivals have featured a car show, but the 2016 event did not. This year, organizers are hoping to ease a car show back into the festivities with a car meet on Sunday.
“It’s not a car show where they have to register. It’ll be a roped off area where people can park their classic cars and people can look at them,” Beavers said. “We didn’t have a car show last year — we weren’t able to pull it off.”
In keeping with the theme, a free tea party will be held at Beerbower Park 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. At the park will also be some 40 vendor booths (up from 25 booths in 2016).
Overall, Beavers encourages the community to come out for a weekend of entertainment.
“It’s a great opportunity to experience our community,” she said. “The bear stew is really popular. There’s going to be a lot of entertainment this year, so it’s a great time to bring your family and have lots of fun.”
For more information and a full schedule, visit the bear festival website, mcclearybearfestival.org.
