{"id":89614,"date":"2020-04-03T00:04:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T06:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-is-going-on-a-bear-hunt\/"},"modified":"2020-04-03T00:04:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T06:04:18","slug":"farmington-is-going-on-a-bear-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-is-going-on-a-bear-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington is going on a bear hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jamie
Jamie and Kevin Felkner and their children, Kiele, 16, and Christian, 13, hold their bear in the front window of their Farmington home Wednesday. Jamie helped to create San Juan County\u2019s bear hunt, a lighthearted scavenger hunt with more than 78 \u201cbear sightings\u201d to date throughout San Juan County.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 Those with a keen eye might have noticed fuzzy, stuffed bears popping up in windows throughout town this past week. Farmington is going on a bear hunt.<\/p>\n

Part of a nationwide trend, residents are placing stuffed bears and other animals in their windows to add an element of lightheartedness in face of the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on the children\u2019s book \u201cWe\u2019re Going on a Bear Hunt,\u201d written by Michael Rosen, the activity invites families to take walks or drives through neighborhoods to \u201chunt\u201d the bears hiding in the windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing out on this bear hunt was a fun way to get out in the community and still practice social distancing,\u201d Jessica Reynolds said. Reynolds said her family found 30 bears on their first hunt. \u201cSeeing all the bears made my family smile. It reminded us of what a great community we live in and that we all are in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Two
Two teddy bears sit in the window of a Farmington home, part of the bear scavenger hunt encouraging families and children to get outside and explore amid the COVID-19 outbreak.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Reynolds, who has an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old, said she first heard about the bear hunts from a news story in Albuquerque and other \u201chunts\u201d happening across the country. But then she noticed a co-worker, Melissa Meechan, started a local bear hunt page on Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was grateful to her and happy Farmington got involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The whole family has gotten involved in the bear hunts, Reynolds said. Both of her children have loved searching for the bears and getting out of the house.<\/p>\n

The San Juan County Bear Hunt<\/a> started March 26 with a simple Facebook event by two Farmington Municipal School teachers, Meechan and Jamie Felkner.<\/p>\n

Meechan, who started the Facebook event and asked for Felkner\u2019s help when the event took off in popularity, said the bear hunt activity is a great way for people to feel like they\u2019re doing something for their community during this time.<\/p>\n

She said it has gotten only more important because schools closed for the year to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany kids don\u2019t have places to play outside right now,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir worlds have gotten very small. The bear hunt allows them to get out into their community without jeopardizing their safety or compromising the safety of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was surprised at how fast the event took off.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren and adults alike need ways to help and stay connected. The bear hunt offers an easy way for us to all feel united and less alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Felkner, a first grade teacher at Bluffview Elementary School, said it\u2019s also a great way to engage children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a scary time for some kids,\u201d she said. \u201cThey know that there is this scary virus that is making people sick and some even know it\u2019s causing death. This was a way to do something fun for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the schools closed for the rest of the school year and teachers working to find new ways to interact with students remotely, the bear hunt provides an additional way to connect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can also give teachers a way to engage students in writing,\u201d Felkner said. \u201cThey can do activities that involve their \u2018bear hunts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While the bear hunt is a great opportunity to get outside, the organizers stressed it is important to continue practicing social distancing and should be done only with family.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the kids and doing something for them in this uncertain time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie
Jamie and Kevin Felkner and their children, Kiele, 16, and Christian, 13, hold their bear in front of their Farmington home on Wednesday. Jamie, a teacher, helps to organize the bear hunt event and is asking more people to participate.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As of Thursday, the Facebook page has listed 78 bear sightings with more than 250 people following the event. Even local businesses have gotten in on the bear hunt. Inspire Dance Academy, The Loft and Finish Line Graphics added stuffed bears to their windows. The group has had responses from Farmington, Aztec, Flora Vista, Bloomfield and Waterflow, Meechan said.<\/p>\n

Meechan and Felkner are encouraging more neighborhoods and businesses to become involved to expand the experience for kids and families. Their tips? Get creative and make it fun. There are no rules and no cost to participate, Meechan added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children have just had their worlds turned upside down,\u201d she said. \u201cThe families in our community are adjusting to their new normal. Let\u2019s give them something fun to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

lweber@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Popular children\u2019s book inspires real-life teddy bear search<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[747,685,799,28,29,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-89614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-children","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89614"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=89614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}