GROVE CITY

People on Garden Avenue in Grove City could "bearly" believe their eyes when a large black bear meandered through the neighborhood Wednesday.

"Its crazy to see it in a town like that," said Steve Wolfe, 32, of Butler, who was visiting his mother Linda Wolfe at 212 Garden Ave., when the bear emerged from a wooded area behind the home-side bleachers of Grove City High School's nearby football field.

Wolfe, his mother, her fiance and a neighbor were standing on the sidewalk at about 3:45 p.m. when they noticed the bear.

"I looked down the street and I said, 'Is that a dog?' " Wolfe said.

They quickly realized what looked like a large dog was actually a bear walking on all fours.

"We got all excited and my dog started barking. I told my mom to take the dog and call the police," said Wolfe.

Wolfe said the bear was about 50 feet away from two boys -- ages 2 and 7 -- operating a Kool-Aid stand in front of their 209 Garden Ave. home.

"I started screaming at the kids to get in the house, and at first they just stood and looked at me. The second time they started to cry and ran towards their house," Wolfe said. "Their mother began to come outside and I yelled 'There's a bear by your house,' and she yelled 'Oh my gosh' and pulled her kids in the house."

A Grove City policeman arrived within minutes and he, Wolfe and a neighbor walked around the boys' house and saw how big the bear really was.

"It stood up and we thought it was taller than us, and I'm 6-foot-2 ," said Wolfe. "It looked up and it started running toward us and we were all like 'argh' and jumped back. The cop started to get his gun out. Then it ran into the woods."

The boys' mother, Dede Wishing, said she was grateful Wolfe raised the alarm. "I just thanked him for it," said Mrs. Wishing, a mother of four.

Wolfe said it wasn't a big deal. "I have a little girl and I would have felt bad if anything happened to those kids."

Linda Wolfe was shocked that a bear was in her neighborhood. "I knew there were deer there, but I didn't think a bear would be in those woods."

Her son agreed. "You had to do a triple take. I thought it was just a big, giant dog. It was almost surreal. I'm not a hunter and all my friends who hunt bear never even see them and now I did, but in a city."

Neighbors said they had heard that there was a bear sighting in the city earlier that day.

Grove City police turned the matter over to the Pennsylvania State Game Commission.

Regis Senko, information education supervisor with the Pennsylvania State Game Commission, said there are bears in Mercer and Venango counties and it's not unusual to see one. But, he said, "You normally don't have them waltzing down the street."

In situations like this one, the game commission would not try to catch the bear but just let it pass through the area, Senko said.