Bear takes a stroll through Rabbit Rabbit in downtown Asheville

Movie watchers got more than they bargained when a black bear took a stroll through Rabbit Rabbit after an outdoor screening of "Elf" on the evening of Dec. 21.

Around 6:20 p.m., Ray Miller was leaving work at RealTech Webmasters on Coxe Avenue when he spotted the bear walking down the alleyway.

"I'd just turned the corner onto Hilliard from Coxe and saw the bear walking down the alley right next to Ben's Tune Up," Miller said. "The funny thing was there were people walking up the sidewalk just a few feet away and the bear was not in any hurry. He was just minding his business, walking along."

Not long after, Nathan McArthur, manager at Asheville Brewing Co., stepped out of the back door of the brewery and into the alleyway.

"It had been raining a little bit so I saw tracks on the ground leading up to Rabbit Rabbit. I thought to myself, 'Those look too big to be a dog. Those look like bear tracks.'"

A man in a truck, who he later learned was Miller, pulled up to the gate and yelled to McArthur that he saw a bear head toward the brewery and Rabbit Rabbit, the outdoor event venue and sister business next door.

Immediately, McArthur called the bartender at Rabbit Rabbit and told her to get everyone inside the bar, he said.

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"I didn't want to sneak up behind the bear and spook it so I went around the front of Rabbit Rabbit," McArthur said.

The movie had ended and there were nearly 20 people still on the property finishing their beers and meals. Most were sitting under the covered patio due to the rain, he said. A lot of guests saw the bear but no one interacted with it.

The bear didn't stick around long before it went about its way.

"Everybody was obviously a little freaked out, including me, but it seemed pretty docile," McArthur said. "It didn't seem like he wanted to be around people as much as we didn't want to be around him."

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The bear went through the front gate of Rabbit Rabbit and walked across Coxe Avenue. McArthur saw it walk up a hill heading toward an apartment building on Ravenscroft Drive.

"It did not look like the bear had any concerns. He seemed completely comfortable with a stroll downtown," Miller said.

Miller kept his distance and took photos of the bear. It was his first time seeing a bear downtown.

Mike Rangel, owner of Rabbit Rabbit and Asheville Brewing, said it's been a couple of years that he's known of a bear in the area. However, in May, there was one at the Asheville Brewing on Merrimon Avenue two days in a row hanging out in trees, he said.

Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter/Instagram @PrincessOfPage.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Bear takes a stroll through Rabbit Rabbit in downtown Asheville NC