Sonoma’s ‘going on a bear hunt’

Facing long days with too little to do, small rituals have become the prescribed treatment for coronavirus ennui. There are daily sing-alongs, nightly howls, and now - for the kinder set - neighborhood “bear hunts.”

Inspired by the 1989 children’s book, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” the idea is to distract bored kids with stuffed animal scavenger hunts while allowing them fresh air and a bit of exercise at a safe social distance.

Since it was nitiated in cities around the world in recent weeks, a local mother of five was among the first to propose a bear hunt in Sonoma. “Join the fun! If you’d like to participate, simply place a stuffed bear in a window of your home so when families go for car rides or walks during this quarantine, they can hunt for bears!” read the invitation posted on social media by Brooke Garibaldi on behalf of her “cooped-up littles.”

The desire to spread a bit of happiness has proved infectious during lockdown, and neighborhoods across Sonoma Valley have enthusiastically signed on.

“Check out Cherry Ave!” one participant posted on the social media site Nextdoor.

“Cooper Street kids, come on by!” said another.

Bears and other stuffed creatures have popped up in windows and porches from Armstrong Estates to Telemec, with sightings reported on East Napa, Hopkins Street, Robinson Road and countless others. Facing down 24 unscripted hours with collective daily dread, Sonomans are forging connections any way they can.

“My two small children were so delighted the other night when we went on a hunt and saw a bear in our neighborhood,” said Amanda Marino, who lives near Donald Street.

Even people whose cache of stuffed animals has dwindled as their children matured were eager to spread joy in a season darkened by COVID-19. “I’ve got a few very special bears saved in my closet who are ready to report for duty. They’ll deploy tomorrow,” said Lori Winter, who lives with her high school daughter on the west side of town.

Jaime Love, whose two children are both grown and flown, was also excited to lend a hand. “When I heard about the bears I went digging for some errant ones left behind by my kids,” Love said. “Then I remembered I had one from my youth stuck in the corner of my closet. That bear went with me to college, N.Y.C., Boston, Montana, and L.A., and now that little forgotten bear will sit in my window and give a moment of discovery and joy to a cooped-up kid and his most likely exhausted parents. Now I know why I kept it all of these years.”

Observant hunters will find a warren of rabbits on a front porch on Barrett, a unicorn nesting in a tall tree on Lucas, a hybrid cat/bear in a dapper hat on Michael Drive, and a stuffed bruin dubbed “Aloysius” perched in a window on Sixth Street West, dressed to impress in a purple and gold U.C.B. T-shirt.

With bulletins from the front lines more dire by the day, and the ubiquitous drumbeat of coronavirus news almost inescapable, cheerful distractions like community scavenger hunts serve as ballast for trauma, a small comfort meant to soothe the tenderest among us: children who can’t rightly grasp the gravitas of the moment.

They, like all of us unsettled by the odd rhythms of pandemic, are trying to manage a strange, new normal, perhaps comforted by the refrain repeated in “Bear Hunt” as its characters soldier on through escalating challenges: “Can’t go over it. Can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it!”

Indeed.

Contact Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.