ANDOVER — The mother bear is named after the northern lights, but it's unclear whether one of its cub's names was inspired by a river in northwest Canada or an ice-cream bar.
Aurora, Klondike and two other granite polar bear cubs — Snowflake and Grace — were officially given names at Memorial Hall Library on Friday. The polar bear sculpture, installed outside the library in June, was the subject of a naming contest that ended last week.
"I think they're adorable," said Angelina Lionetta, 12. "I think the names are, like, totally legit. I think Aurora is a really cool name."
After 3,230 ballots were cast both online and at the library, the four most popular names for the bears were revealed at an event celebrating the end of a youth summer reading program.
Children wore animal masks, ate ice cream and collected prizes for the points they accumulated for reading over the summer. More than 500 kids participated in the program.
Those who voted for the bears' names got to pick from a list of 41 choices provided by the library staff.
Snowflake seemed to be the most popular name among children at Friday's Safari Ice Cream Social. The name Aurora was a reference to the aurora borealis, or northern lights, Lionetta said.
While many of the kids liked the name Klondike because it's a brand of ice-cream bars, 7-year-old Jack Bodette said the name was a nod to the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory.
The two ballot boxes that had been stationed at the library during voting were often full, Community Services Librarian Emily Classon said.
"We had lots of children vote," she said. "We had to empty it over and over to make room for more ballots."
Library Director Jim Sutton said the naming of the bears proved to be a popular contest.
"It's like the first thing everybody asked," he said. "'Are they going to have names?' That seemed like the thing to do. It turned out to be fun."
The sculpture of the mother polar bear and its four cubs is 7 feet long, 4 feet tall, and an attractive object for children to climb on during visits to the library, Sutton said.
"Every day I see kids out there on it," he said. "They really seem to have a good time."
The sculpture was created by Vermont artist Jim Sardonis and entirely funded by library trustees. No taxpayer money was used to pay for the $70,000 sculpture.
Classon said the bears are an example of "accessible art" that has succeeded in the trustees' stated goal of bringing more families to the library.
"We thought naming the bears would be a great way to welcome them into the Andover family and endear them to the community," she said. "I think it was a big success."
