'World's Largest Teddy Bear' Makes Its Rounds In Lake County

LAKE COUNTY, IL -- The "World's Largest Teddy Bear" is making its rounds in Lake County.

Xonita drew thousands of visitors to Waukegan Municipal Beach over the weekend just days after the stuffed animal brought crowds to Round Lake Beach, according to media reports.

Guinness World Records recognized the teddy bear as the largest in 2019. Xonita weighs 8,000 pounds and is 63 feet long.

Photo credit: City of Waukegan Facebook page

On Saturday and Sunday, Xonita was at Waukegan Municipal Beach. And it received rave reviews from those who stopped out to see it.

"It's simply magnificent," Crystal, mother to Waukegan fourth-grader, Silas Cornelius, told the Lake County-News. "We had to come here and see it."

On May 2 and 3, the bear was in Round Lake Beach. Due to high wind gusts, event organizers shut the teddy bear display down four hours earlier than expected at noon on May 3.

Xonita was created through a collaboration of artisans in Xonacatian, Mexico, according to the Lake County News-Sun. Juan Dotor, director of immigration affairs for the Mexican State of Mexico, told the newspaper Waukegan and Round Lake Beach were selected as stops due to the large Hispanic populations in both communities.

“There are a lot of people here with families in Mexico,” he said.“Illinois has the second-most people from Mexico (in the U.S.) after California. Many of them are from Toluca,” he added, referring to the area around Xonacatlan.