Peoria’s Iconic Bear Seeks New Home After Coffee Shop Closure
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Peoria's Iconic Bear Seeks New Home After Coffee Shop Closure
- Peoria's beloved bear, a taxidermied polar bear dyed black, was a fixture at Jumer's Castle Lodge for decades before moving to Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co. in 2011.
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Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co. closed permanently on June 25, 2023, leaving the nine-foot-tall bear’s future uncertain, though an original founder plans a new coffee shop in the same location.
Peoria’s famous black bear, a local icon with a storied past, is seeking a new home following the closure of Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co. in June 2023. The bear, which is actually a polar bear originally dyed black to match the “Black Bear Lounge” at the former Jumer’s Castle Lodge, has been a beloved fixture in Peoria for many years.
The bear first greeted visitors at Jumer’s Castle Lodge on Western Avenue, where it became a popular spot for photographs during special events like proms and weddings. Despite rumors that its black color resulted from a fire in the early 1970s, taxidermist Harley Grove, who owns a shop in Creve Coeur, clarified that the bear was dyed black from the outset to fit the theme of the Black Bear Lounge. Mr. Jumer reportedly legally shot the polar bear off the Russian coast near Alaska, and it was mounted by Knopp Brothers’ taxidermy shop in Spokane, Washington.
After Jumer’s Castle Lodge closed its doors in 2010, the bear was placed in storage. It found a new home in 2011 when Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co. opened in the Kickapoo Building downtown, with the Jumer family, who still owned the building, agreeing to display the bear. Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co. operated for over 11 years, serving its last customers on June 25, 2023.
While the coffee shop’s closure has left the bear’s immediate future in question, there are plans for a new establishment. Ty Paluska, one of the original founders of Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co., is returning to open a new coffee and juice cafe called “Intuition” in the same historic Kickapoo building. Renovations for the new shop could take one to two years before it fully opens, but the popular Jumer bear is expected to return.