Boyertown Businesses Host StoryWalk® on Fridays and Saturdays During August 2025

by Jane Stahl

Participating with Studio B Art Gallery’s summer project “The Three Bears,” Building a Better Boyertown and the Boyertown Community Library have developed an in-town StoryWalk® using the story “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Bill Martin Jr.

Begin at the Boyertown Community Library to pick up a stamp card with a list of the participating businesses. Pages of the story can be found at the following locations during each business’ regular hours on each Friday and Saturday during August 2025, giving participants an opportunity to visit and learn more about Boyertown’s businesses and take a walk around town while enjoying a bear-themed story.

End the StoryWalk® by returning the card to the library and pick up a set of Brown Bear Glasses.

Participating businesses include Peppermint Stick Candy Store and Ice Cream Parlor, Weidner’s Deli, Stellar House Gift Shop, Deal Me in Games, Zimmers’ Pets, AROZS, and Carmelo’s Pizza.

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StoryWalk® started in the mid-West in 2007 and has taken off in communities through the country. The local effort began in 2020, when the Boyertown Community Library set up a temporary StoryWalk® using yard signs in the park to display the book pages each Wednesday.

In July 2023, the library installed a permanent StoryWalk®, making a display of book pages available year-round in any weather. The library plans to have a new story displayed every month, available all month.

Support for the StoryWalk® has been a community effort. Donations from Suzanne Biesecker, the Effenesse Foundation, and the library’s annual Disk Golf Tournament hosted by the library’s Fundraising Committee and Phat Cats Disco Golf group, funded the project. Cement and other supplies were generously donated by AD Moyer Lumber. An team of volunteers assisted in the installation of the posts.

Studio B Art Gallery’s “The Three Bears” project includes efforts to engage community members in the theme-of-the-year. The project, funded by a grant from the Berks County Community Foundation, includes a variety of activities, organized by businesses and other non-profits in the community in collaboration with Studio B.

This year’s theme—“The Three Bears”—celebrates the 20th anniversary of Bear Fever, Boyertown’s popular community art project. Twenty years ago, Bear Fever debuted over 30 bear sculptures at Boyertown High School’s annual Arts Expo. During the summer of 2005, those 30+ bear sculptures appeared throughout the community.

Today, the original sculptures are joined by dozens more—over 90 at last count—and more are “in the works.” Apparently, this community is still not even looking for a cure for Bear Fever.

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