Buttons - Events - 1982

McCleary 2nd Growth & Bear Festival

24th Annual

July 16-17-18-1982

On the curl: G.H. Stamp Works, Aberdeen, Wash.

Buttons - Events - 1977

McCleary 2nd Growth & Bear Festival

19th Annual

July 15-16-17-1977

On the curl: G.H. Stamp Works, Aberdeen, Wash.

Buttons - Events - 1974

McCleary 2nd Growth & Bear Festival

16th Annual

July 19-20-21-1974

On the curl: G.H. Stamp Works, Aberdeen, Wash.

Buttons - Events - 1966

McCleary 2nd Growth & Bear Festival

8th Annual

July 15-16-17-1966

On the curl: G.H. Stamp Works, Aberdeen, Wash.

Phone photo 1750

Guns and Hoses baseball game

McCleary Bear Festival

Phone photo 1749

Guns and Hoses baseball game, where the police and firemen square off at the McCleary Bear Festival. During the game we had the worst lightning storm in recent memory, complete with torrential rain, hail, and thunderbolts directly above. And still they played. No real Grays Harbor County guy is going to be the first to admit they have enough sense to get out of the rain, much less potential lightning strikes.

And that is part of the reason I choose to live here in McCleary. This town, as the masthead of the old McCleary Stimulater newspaper used to declare, is as "Independent as a Hog on Ice." There is no logical reason why this village should be here, yet here we are. Bezango WA 985.

Phone photo 1748

Having fun at the McCleary Bear Festival

Lost Boys Pirates, Tinkerbell, and Tiger Lilly!

Phone photo 1747

The Lost Boys Pirates had such a great float!

McCleary Bear Festival

Phone photo 1746

Volunteers in the community kitchen preparing the bear stew.

Seriously.

McCleary Bear Festival, McCleary, Washington

Phone photo 1745

McCleary Bear Festival

Morty Comix # 2353

 

So I had to rummage through one of my several junk drawers, and finally found the hole-punch tool. Now how often does anyone find an occasion to use one of these?

And here we see the hole-punch tool doing what it does best, punching a hole. In this case it happens to be in Morty Comix # 2353. Why am I doing this?

Here's why. I have a big helium balloon shaped like a ladybug. The store even pumped extra helium into this thing when I purchased it.

So I tied the Morty Comix to the end of the ribbon dangling from the string on the balloon, using the hole I punched with the seldom used hole-punch tool.

From my front yard the wind was strong, heading west from the Pacific Ocean (about an hour away while driving).

And so I released this Morty Comix to the Heavens and watched it for about five minutes before it actually entered the cloud layer. What amazed me was that even though the wind was strong at ground level, the balloon basically went slightly west but vanished in the clouds still over McCleary city limits. See if you can spot it in these subsequent phone photos. I was able to observe it until it vanished into a cloud.

This is one Morty Comix that should be a real collector's item! Well, that is, if anyone out there is nuts enough to try to collect these babies.

This is the second issue of Morty Comix I have sent out on a balloon. Back in my last house here in McCleary I launched one probably in the 1980s. It was during Bear Festival time. I suppose I could look up the number but I lack the energy.

As I recall that particular Morty Comix was an index card folded in half with four images drawn into it and the card stock weight made lift off rather iffy. And instead of being herded east, as the winds here usually do, that Morty Comix barely cleared a giant evergreen and floated magically to the west-- toward Elma.(7 miles away)

Of course back then when I launched the first Morty Comix, in 1983, there was no such thing as Internet or scanning. And I kept no record of the image.

Of all the places that have been Mortyfied since I have started this new phase, only one has responded.

Phone photo 873

The wooden bear on top of McCleary City Hall, carved out with a chain saw 50 years ago. The bear is known by several names, including "Timbear" and "Smiley." I had a chance to see this thing close up in the mid-1990s while promoting a documentary on the McCleary Bear Festival.

I now realize this sculpture no doubt contributed to the creation of the Tulpa minicomic in 1990.

Phone photo 664

Until next year

Phone photo 663

Dismantling the Bear Festival
The tables where bear stew had been consumed are now empty
The carnival rides are being packed up

Phone photo 660

McCleary Bear Festival carnival

Phone photo 659

Phone photo 658

Phone photo 657

Phone photo 656

A piece of the World Trade Center goes on tour
McCleary, Washington

Bear Fest Kitchen, 1959-2002

A farewell to the original community kitchen used for cooking the bear stew for the McCleary Bear Festival. From 1986 to 1994 I lived in a house where this structure was plainly visible from the living room window of my home.