Denver, Colorado - Big Blue Bear

Next to the entrance to the Colorado Convention Center, with its nose pressed to the glass peering in at everyone, is a giant 3-story blue bear. It is a statue put up in the summer of 2005 by Lawrence Argent, entitled "I See What You Mean," though everyone just calls it the "Big Blue Bear." It is 40 feet tall, made of fiberglass, and has already become a star in film and TV. Less than a year old and it already has its own film documentary, "Big Blue Bear" by Daniel Junge and Davis Coombe, featuring time lapse of its construction, and the bear even helped lead a successful campaign to raise Denver's hotel tax to boost tourism. One commercial even showed it jumping on a bed. [Richard J. Gardner, 11/25/2005]

[RA: What a media darling, and so convenient for Denver TV crews and publicists. Too cute, really. And what's that about charging more tax on hotel rooms to boost tourism?]