13th Annual International Multicultural Bear Honoring

April 2nd, 2012

Great Bear Foundation’s 13th Annual Bear Honoring
May 4-6, 2012

GBF's Bear Honoring weekend welcomes bears out of hibernation. Photo by Mike Pitelli

Dates of Event:
May 04, 2012 – May 06, 2012

International Multicultural Bear Honoring is the Great Bear Foundation’s annual festival to welcome the bears out of hibernation and celebrate spring. Bear Honoring is a multicultural, weekend-long event in the tradition of spring bear celebrations that have occurred for thousands of years in cultures around the world.

Bear Honoring kicks off with the Bear Foods Buffet and Rattlesnake Creek Bear Walk at the Greenough Park Picnic Shelter in Missoula on Friday. Saturday, we’ll head up to the Mission Mountains, take a tour of the Salish Kootenai College Art Department with Corky Clairmont, go to the Kicking Horse Job Corps Powwow where we’ll sponsor a Bear Dance, and then look for bears and bear sign in the Post Creek Drainage of the Missions, before heading home for dark. Sunday, we head up to Glacier National Park to walk up the Park Road, looking for bears in the avalanche chutes. See details below, or contact us at (406) 829-9378.

Locations & Schedule

Bear Foods Buffet & Rattlesnake Creek Bear Walk, Greenough Park Picnic Shelter, Friday, May 4, 5:00 PM–Meet at the Picnic Shelter to join GBF President, Chuck Jonkel on a walk along Rattlesnake Creek, looking for bear sign and emerging spring bear foods. After the walk, join us for the Bear Foods Buffet, and sample some of the wild foods that both bears and humans can enjoy–fiddleheads, glacier lilies, spring beauty, nettles, berries, elk, and salmon. While we eat, invited speakers will talk about the bear and its cultural and ecological roles. Speakers TBA. Suggested donation: $20, but we will not turn anyone away.

Mission Mountains Day–Salish Kootenai College Art Tour, Kickinghorse Powwow, and Searching for Bears in the Missions, Saturday, May 5–Meet at 9:00 AM the GBF office at 802 E Front Street, Missoula, to ride up with us, or meet at the Salish Kootenai College Art Department at 11:00 AM for a tour with Corky Clairmont. Then we’ll head to the Powwow at Kickinghorse Job Corps, starting at 1:00 PM. At the Powwow, we’ll sponsor a Bear Dance by Allen Pierre. We’ll spend the afternoon looking for bears and bear sign up the Post Creek Drainage in the Mission Mountains, then make our way home. Suggested Donation: $20

Day Trip to Glacier Park, Sunday, May 6–Meet at 9:00 AM at the GBF office, 802 E Front Street, Missoula to ride up with us, or meet us at Avalanche Gate in Glacier Park at 12:45 PM. Chuck Jonkel and other speakers will talk about the bear’s ecological and cultural significance, and then we’ll walk up the Park Road looking for bears and bear sign. Bring snacks, and plastic bags to pick up litter along the road. Suggested Donation to ride in the van: $20

Please contact us if you want to ride in our van on Saturday or Sunday, so we’ll know how many people to plan for.

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