Mary Tyler Moore gets her own Santabear inspired by Mary Richards' hat toss, available at Dayton's Holiday Market
Mary Richards' famous hat toss is now a Santabear. Dayton's Holiday Market is releasing a Mary Tyler Moore edition of the Minnesota holiday collectible, and 10% of every bear sold will go to the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative.
The bear wears Richards' peacoat with anchor buttons, carries a little black handbag and, of course, has the unmistakable beret. A statue at Nicollet and 7th in Minneapolis honors the groundbreaking 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its lasting impact on the city's national image. The bear brings the moment of Richards tossing her hat in the air to life in a way fans can take home.
The Mary Tyler Moore Santabear costs $129. It will be available at Dayton's Holiday Market at the Dayton's Project along Nicollet Mall, starting with a sneak-peek pre-sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 11.
Berthiaume, the market's founder and curator, said Moore was a major diabetes advocate who lost her vision and founded the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative at the University of Michigan.
"Mary Richards is ours and she was such a great example, especially to people in my generation who were starting careers and really wanted to be just like Mary Richards," Berthiaume said. "And her demeanor, her professionalism, everything about her you wanted to emulate."
The collectible bears were born at Dayton's department stores in the 1980s and drew crowds eager to take home each year's edition. After making a comeback in 2022, Santabear is finding a new audience.
"It's really the generation of millennials that we bought as boomers those Santabears for," Berthiaume said. "And so now they're all coming for their kids."
The tradition even made a summertime appearance at the Minnesota State Fair, where the latest bear sold out in four days. Dayton's Holiday Market, at the Dayton's Project along Nicollet Mall, is preparing to open.
The traditional annual Santabear is still coming. WCCO will reveal it on "The 4" in the coming weeks.
