When Smokey Bear went missing from the town’s fire warning sign on Ayer Road this summer, Harvard resident Leon Hebert and his family vowed to replace him. They could have simply purchased a large sticker from the U.S. Forest Service and affixed it to a sheet of plywood, Hebert told the Press, but they decided Smokey deserved better.
Hebert bought a life-size sticker, some plywood, carbon paper, and paints. Then Hebert, his daughter Lucy, and her friend Kristina Situ, laid Smokey’s image on the carbon paper and traced its details onto the plywood. Once the image had been transferred, Lucy and Kristina painted it, and Hebert providing the finishing touches. By last week Smokey was ready to resume his post. With police Sgt. Matt Callahan keeping an eye on passing traffic, the Hebert and Situ families gathered Saturday, Dec. 17, to restore Smokey to his rightful place, this time with lockable anchors to fasten him to his post.
Meanwhile, the summer theft of Smokey’s predecessor remains an unsolved mystery, Sgt. Callahan told the Press. There are no suspects. “It’s likely in a dorm room somewhere,” he surmised.
From left: Sgt. Matt Callahan, Dan Situ, Jian Wang, Katherine Situ, Alison Hebert, Kristina Situ, Lucy Hebert, and Leon Hebert pose in front of the new handprinted Smokey Bear sign on Ayer Road, Dec. 17. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
