If you noticed the throng of people milling around the Santa Fe River at the corner of West Alameda and Guadalupe Streets, you can say you almost saw the Labor Day Downtown Bear.

For real! Early this morning, a black bear wandered into downtown Santa Fe and then hunkered down in the dry bed of the Santa Fe River. (In the photo below, it's the black mass nestled under the left-side bank.)

But perhaps even better than the bear was the enormous crowd (children, too!) that gathered to watch him lie there before Animal Control stepped in: