By Anna Bedell

On the corner of Belridge Rd. and Woodland St., there stands a tall statue of a bear like a totem pole in the front yard, greeting the passersby cars, as a “welcome” to the neighborhood.  

It is a conversation piece that proud owner James Jehnings was excited to talk about, growing animated, while telling how it came to be.

“We had a tree there, and the insurance company said we need to get rid of it because it was hanging too close, so we decided we were going to cut it down,” said Jehnings. “But we’re like, ‘What do we want to do with it?’ so we cut it and we left about 12 feet up.”

He said he was looking around for an artist and talked to maybe 25-30 of them before he found local artist Paul Campbell, owner of @Campbell Custom Carving.

“I talked to him, he came over and looked at it, fell in love with the tree and then we just had to figure out what we were going to do and we came up with the bear,” said Jehnings. “My mom’s a bear fanatic so she’s got another little wooden bear inside and stuff like that and she collects bears.”

“She used to make bears out of fur coats that they would get like Goodwill and stuff so she’s a huge bear fanatic,” he said.

The bear was carved three months ago, taking Campbell about a month to complete in between his fulltime job, he said.

Anyone living in the area wouldn’t be able to miss the bear statue, an example of fine artistry.

“People always stop and look and some even yell out, ‘Hey I love your bear statue,’’ said Jehnings.

Jehnings said his grandfather built his house in 1958.

“His name was Francis Fink. We are making it a tribute to my uncle who passed away from brain cancer,” said Jehnings.

“His name was Thomas Fink; it was my grandfather youngest child… we will be putting a plaque once we get done building around the bear.”  

His parents bought the house when he was in the first grade after moving from Forestville, at which point his grandparents became snowbirds between Florida and Maine.

The statue was hard to miss, as each car stopped at the stop sign to admire the bear.  

“His first carving is over at 250 Shagbark Dr., so if you drive over there you will see it,” said Jehnings about Campbell’s work.