September 01, 2026
Two Sundays ago, I headed to the South Pearl Street Farmers Market to check out vendor offerings and enjoy a morning stroll in a new neighborhood. The Platt Park neighborhood was bustling with people walking to the market, and I joined them. Two blocks from the market along a busy street, I saw people gathered on the sidewalk, holding up their phones. A police car was blocking traffic.
I figured it was a movie or commercial shoot, a not-unusual sight in my old neighborhood in film-friendly Austin.
“What’s going on?” I asked someone.
“It’s a bear,” she said.
Was she joking? Platt Park is an urban Denver neighborhood about 30 miles from the mountains. I turned and looked up at a big cottonwood in someone’s front yard, and sure enough — a young black bear was perched high in a crotch of the tree.
I watched for a few minutes among a polite crowd of neighbors, market goers, and police. They were waiting for someone from Colorado Parks and Wildlife to come tranquilize and relocate the bear. Which they did sometime later, I learned from news reports.
The bear was safely released in a wild area, so all’s well that ends well. But it’s sad to know that bears this year are being forced to take unusual risks — like venturing into cities — because drought has reduced their normal food sources.
South Pearl Street Farmers Market
Could it be the bear heard about all the delicious food for sale at the farmers market?
Plenty of hungry humans were here for it.
I bought some peaches…
…and Hatch green chiles and salsa.
The delicious charred aroma of Hatch chiles wafted from a hand-cranked roaster.
Texas tacos and BBQ were on offer too, which I was curious about but didn’t sample.
Also cheese…
…bouquets of flowers…
…and dinosaur and Bulbasaur planters.
Rawr
Street planters were bursting with late summer annuals.
One house along the market street had a picket fence decorated with ceramic post finials, which included a little church…
…a boat called Nell…
…and a gnome-friendly hut. Adorable!
Back at home, I ate the best peaches I’ve ever tasted.
The South Pearl Street Farmers Market runs each Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm between May and early November. Probably there won’t be any more bear sightings, but hey, you never know.
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On September 12, tour three private Denver-area gardens through the Open Days Program. Details and tickets at the Garden Conservancy.
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