The taxidermied body of the actual bear that ate 75 pounds of cocaine in 1985, on permanent display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall on Bryan Avenue near downtown. The Fun Mall is the merchandise store of a Lexington-based design collective; their bear sits in a custom case with mood lighting at the back of the shop. Free to view. There is a guestbook, fan letters, flowers occasionally left by visitors. The most unlikely tourist attraction in Kentucky.
Cocaine Bear
A story
In September 1985 a 175-pound black bear was found dead in the north Georgia woods next to 40 plastic-wrapped packages of cocaine that had been dumped from an airplane by a smuggler who later died parachuting from the same plane. The bear was taxidermied and embarked on a long, strange property odyssey before being installed at Kentucky for Kentucky in 2015. A 2023 Elizabeth Banks film loosely based on the incident pushed the attraction onto international tourist lists.