Location
Corner of 61
North Reading Avenue and West 5 Street, Boyertown
Sponsor
Shannon Shaw, statetheatrepreservation@gmail.com
Artist
Deb Meehan, Debmeehan53@gmail.com
Pops is a unique bear sculpture located at The
State Theatre in Boyertown, on the corner of 61
North Reading Avenue and West 5 Street, with
an interesting backstory about its creation.
Originally, he was a Beach Bear named Marian
the Li-Bear-ian, that was part of an annual
project in St. Joseph's, Michigan in 2006. Pops
was discovered in Virginia by Shannon and Ken
Shaw during a camping trip and brought back to
Boyertown for restoration.
Pops was found at Acme Antiques in Virginia, needing
significant repairs. Shannon and Ken Shaw had stopped for
ice cream next store to the antique store and spotted the
bear. After coming home, Shannon couldn’t stop thinking
about the bear because she had really wanted to get a
Boyertown Bear. She contacted the store and, thankfully, the
bear was still available.After bringing the bear home,
Shannon spent many hours cleaning him before artist, Deb
Meehan, designed his final look, which features a popcorn
theme. The tough part for her was to move from the 2D
sketch to the 3D sculpture and keep the red and white lines
straight! Deb also struggled with making the popcorn look
realistic. Pops has a popcorn scarf and some pieces
“dropped” at the base just like it falls onto the floor when
eating it!
Installed in February 2025, Pops aims to attract visitors to
the theatre, with hopes that the smell of popcorn will
entice them to buy some. Shannon says “the eyes are her
favorite”. She loves her bear and can’t believe she finally
got her own bear! Every Boyertown business should have a
bear, according to Shannon! As Pops was being installed,
Shannon noticed people were already slowing down as
they were driving by to get a look at Pops!