 At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. On Monday, October 10th, the 24th bear statue in the city of Pikeville was unveiled in front of the Avis Center. The kindness bear is dedicated to those diagnosed with autism and was painted by local artist and illustrator Chris Epling. Mountain Top News spoke with Main Street director Minta Trimble to learn more. So yeah, the downtown bears has been a project for about close to 10 years. And each year we add a couple more. And this year we've done a little bit more area than just downtown, but they're all walkable. And the addition of this bear, the kindness bear, is kind of like autism awareness. Each one of them have their own special meaning. But we're really, really, you know, this one's close to our hearts. Because it is something real, you know, whereas maybe some of the other bears are more like cartoon or, you know, celebrity or something. This one, you know, has a true meaning. So as I said, this is our 24th bear. And we do have more to come. And we're really excited about that. We will be having some bears that sit, some baby bears. So it's just started as an artisan project. And we wanted to do art installations downtown that people would be able to go to see, take their pictures with. And then just kind of walk around town. So we're really, really excited that this would just add a little bit more to a little bit more of a walk. The new bear stands proudly in front of the Ava Center as a landmark, just as all the other bears across Pikeville. The kindness bear acts as a symbol of inclusivity and diversity. I think there has been an absolute great turnout today. And yes, up to the leading up coming on to this, working with the artist, Chris Epling, has just been great. These bears go out like, as we want to say, a call for artist. The artist gets a picture of the bear and they get to create their thoughts upon that fiberglass surface as to whatever it will be. So as I said, Chris is the artist and we worked with him on this. So it's been a great turnout for the people in the community. And they get to share this experience. So that's what it's all about. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Nick Column.