Worker Bear Sarah Paro Yesterday we took the day off. Well, Lynn did spend a couple hours at the Bear Center (Community Appreciation Free Day) giving tours of the new addition to anyone interested and telling a little about how it will be used. But it was mostly a day with grandkids, family, and friends.
NABC floatThis evening, Bear Center staff, family, and volunteers participated in Ely’s Holiday Parade. The float featured a bear looking out of a den while ‘helper bears’ handed out candy to onlookers.
We are looking for your input. With so many creative Lily Fans out there, brainstorming can only make the Hope Learning Center Classroom better. Here’s the general idea. During the school year (a slow time for tourists), we will focus on educating busloads of students. There will be programs presented on the big screen (hi def video of bears larger than life at eye level) in addition to material that will use smartboards, and microscopes with big monitors so entire classes can see the images. 
Ready to roll!In the summer, we will educate home-schooled groups and Boy Scout groups, but we also would like the room to be a place for young tourists (age 9-17 or so) to learn. We are accumulating bones and specimens of all kinds to teach about all of the Northwoods’ nature. These can be distributed on wheeled tables so we can move the tables to the side and turn it into a more conventional classroom when needed.
Holiday sled dogsWe know there is much we haven’t thought of. Brainstorming by Lily Fans and educators could make learning more exciting for young people. With the addition of this classroom, we can focus the Cub Room on kids 8 and under, making the new classroom a place focused on older students. Send your ideas for the Hope Learning Center Classroom to
In the future, we’ll be coming back to you for exhibit ideas for the Northwoods Ecology Hall and the Distance Learning Broadcast Room, but we’ll save the details in mind for those areas until then.
Tomorrow a very special eBay auction begins. A teddy bear named Eveleth crafted by award-winning bear maker and Lily Fan Joanne Livingston goes up for auction. In Joanne’s own words:
Joanne Livingston“I work under the name Desertmountainbear making realistic style teddy bears. I believe that much of the success I have had with my bears is because of Hope. From her birth, she became the subject of my studies. The video and close-up still photographs of her allowed me to really see the way bears, especially cubs, moved. This helped me to design bears with more realistic look and movement. I am very thankful to Dr. Rogers, Sue Mansfield, and the North American Bear Center for what they have shown me about bears. But I am especially thankful for Hope. She is and will forever be my muse.”
We will post the link to this auction in tomorrow night’s update.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Center and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.