The Kichi Sibi Woods near the Ottawa River are home to bears, but there’s no danger in sight — these ones are sculpted from snow.
For nearly a decade, local artist Maggie Glossop has been creating the cute sculptures along the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail, a popular area for Ottawa cross-country skiers.
“I build them because I enjoy building and also because people seem to really like them,” Glossop told CTV News Ottawa.
“People tell me it makes them smile. So, that makes me smile.”
Some of the bears are on stumps, while others hang higher up on trees or on benches.
“I make them whenever Mother Nature provides me with the right kind of snow,” she said.
“When it gets close to 0 C, the snow gets sticky and then I can build them.”
This season, there are a total of 15 bears. Glossop says for some trail users, spotting each one has turned into a bit of a treasure hunt.
She’s created so many bears that Glossop has earned an appropriate nickname — the Bear Lady.
“I’m more than happy to be the Bear Lady, it’s a good thing to be,” she said.
The 78-year-old lives nearby and says she’s in the woods often building the bears, performing touch-ups or just feeding birds and enjoying being outside.
“This is actually sort of my backyard. I would consider it my happy place,” she said.
“Instead of signing up for a gym to go and get exercise, I’m over in the woods almost every day. All year long.”
