The Great Delta Bear Affair conducts various projects to raise awareness about the Louisiana Black Bear, as well as offering educational opportunities to children about Mississippi’s natural resources and wildlife. The festival’s planning committee also gives back to its supportive local community through beautification, donations and other outreach projects.
Bear Care
Each year the Great Delta Bear Affair plays host to a Chainsaw Woodcarver. This artist carves a 12 foot log donated by Cypress Depot into a bear for the Rolling Fork Community. These bears have become a unique part of Rolling Fork. Since they are wooden, and in the elements year-round, the bears require annual maintenance to keep them healthy. The March 2023 tornado damaged many bears and destroyed one. Dayton Scoggins will be repairing bears during the 2023 festival.
Donations are accepted to help with Bear Care. Mail any donations to: GDBA Bear Care, P.O. Box 214, Rolling Fork, MS 39159.
Teddy Bears for Kids
Each October during the week of the Great Delta Bear Affair, volunteers deliver cuddly, soft Teddy bears to the patients at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Children’s of Mississippi Hospital in Jackson. Bears are given to every patient in the hospital and in the clinic. Covid imposed visitation restrictions, and now bears are delivered to the Child Life Department to distribute to the patients. Since 2012, the students at Sharkey-Issaquena Academy in Rolling Fork have partnered with the Bear Affair to raise money for the GDBA Teddy Bears for Kids project.
Youth Education Day
On the Friday before the Great Delta Bear Affair festival, Youth Education Day is held for over 300 area fourth graders. School children are led through different stations where natural resource professionals engage them in discussions, games, activities and presentations related to wildlife, our environment and our natural resources. Due to the March 2023 tornado, the 2023 Youth Education Day will be held in Onward at the Theodore Roosevelt NWR Complex Visitor’s Center. This is a wonderful opportunity for students and teachers to view the center that has not yet opened to the public. The Sharkey/Issaquena NRCS Soil and Water Conservation District partners with the Great Delta Bear Affair planning committee on this event by providing a free lunch to all participants and volunteers.
