Marianne Deery was the mayor of Boyertown from 2000 – 2020. She was also the owner of The Twin Turrets Inn from 1994 – 2019, where she hosted people from all over the country and world. Everyone who came to stay at the Inn always left feeling like they were part of the family.
In 2002 she founded Building A Better Boyertown and the Main Street Program which worked to revitalize the Boyertown downtown area. Marianne received numerous awards, including Volunteer and Citizen of the Year awards, a Citation from the House of Representatives, signed by David Maloney, our State Representative, and a Citation from the Senate, signed by Bob Mensch, our State Senator. She also served on many Boards. But in her own words, “My greatest honor was serving our community.”
Her enthusiastic spirit was evident every year when she opened the Octoberfest in her German costume as can be seen in the photo taken by her husband Frank! She was also a compassionate person who cared about the well-being of everyone and wanted all to be welcome in Boyertown. The "No Place for Hate" mural in Boyertown was important to her. Ellen Martignetti said, “That was just her personality, warm and welcoming to all from the moment you met her.” Everything good in this town has her handprint on it, according to Tom Gosse. Jane Stahl, Boyertown Area Expression co-editor and Director of Community Relations at Studio B, and host of the Be Inspired podcast, shared that designer Brieanne Hauger of Cowpainters, LLC, the fabricators of Boyertown's Bear Fever bears, outdid herself in creating the custom mold for Bearianne.
Artist, Jeff Graber of Graber Letterin', meticulously painted the bear sculpture created from a photo of the late Mayor Marianne Deery, in her Oktoberfest finery. Jeff stated that this was his most difficult bear project because of the special molds and all the patterns that needed to be reproduced. Bearianne is sponsored by Marianne's husband Frank who eagerly anticipated her arrival in time for the 2024 Oktoberfest celebration in Boyertown. Bearianne sits right at the intersection of East Philadelphia Avenue and North Reading Avenue. She greets all who pass though and invites everyone to come and enjoy all that Boyertown has to offer.