VICTORIA, B.C. — Despite what the lyrics to “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” say, you don’t need to “go down in the woods today.” It’s a downtown construction site where “you’re sure of a big surprise.” “It’s up there,” Erin England points to the building being built across from her apartment. “You can’t really see it anymore.” So she agrees to for me to come up to her place for a better perspective and get pictures of what’s been offering her a daily dose of joy for the past few months. “It’s like a childhood giddy,” Erin points to a large stuffed animal displayed on the exposed rebar on the building. “Oh my gosh! It’s a giant bear!” It’s also a mystery. Nobody seems to know who put it there, or why. Although the resident caretaker of Erin’s place — Dennis Jones — does know when it appeared. “It’s been there since before [the construction] came out of the hole,” Dennis says he first noticed it on the ground and now it’s a few stories up. “As the building goes up, so does the bear.” Then Dennis points up to one of the top floor balconies on his building. A second bear is hanging over the balcony railing looking at the first bear. Samantha Allan got the second bear after filming video of the first bear sitting in the rain and feeling sorry for it. “We need another bear to respond to the bear that’s out there,” Samantha smiles. So, after finding a similar giant bear on-line for free, Samantha sat it on her balcony, which caught the attention of the construction crew. “So, there is this silent communication through the bears,” Samantha laughs, before showing video of the workers waving at her bear with their bear. And then one day, Samantha noticed the first bear was holding a rose in its hand. “And I thought, ‘It’s a romance!’” Samantha laughs. So Samantha reciprocated by attaching a bouquet of pink paper flowers on her bear. “They’re both holding flowers,” Peter smiles while showing photos he’d taken while working on the construction site. “It’s kinda cool, eh?” Although he credits the bear for making his workday feel lighter, Peter is unsure who’s responsible for the first bear but agrees to try and find out. That’s how we end up meeting ironworker Jordan Turnbull. “I’m a family man,” Jordan says. Because he has three kids, Jordan knows how meaningful one stuffy can be. So when the giant bear appeared on the site one day, Jordan saved it. “Took it home to clean it and brought it back to work,” Jordan says. While he originally displayed the bear prominently in the hopes of reuniting it with its owner, after months of nobody claiming it, Jordan is now simply constructing something cute with it. “It’s just something to make everyone smile,” Jordan says. It’s the same for Samantha, which is why she’s so pleased to see that since she put up her bear, three more have appeared on buildings surrounding the construction site. “My goal would be to put bears on as many balconies as I can,” Samantha smiles. “And turn this into a neigh-bear-hood!” And like the song says, “every bear that ever there was, will gather there for certain”, because every day here will feel like a “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.”
