The promoter arranges eight shows a year, stretching from Washington to Texas. The Jasmers also work with another promoter, Chicago-based ABC Unlimited Productions, and have attended its shows in Toronto, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Illinois. Traveling expenses including meals and accomodations are extra. The European trip was scheduled to take them in April to England for two shows and to Germany for a third. But the Germany show will attract up to 12,000 bear collectors from all over the world.
Most collectors pay with credit cards, while others cut checks and a few pay with cash.
Since JazzBears was born in 1991, the Jasmers have never received a bad check or had a credit card charge turned away. When they drive to West Coast shows, the Jasmers hop into their minivan and haul two or three locker-sized trunks filled with two to four dozen bears. They carefully layer bubble wrap between the tightly wrapped bears, sometimes matting down the bears' fur, made from mohair or alpaca. The Jasmers fly to other U.S. shows, shipping their bears, which range from 8 inches to 30 inches in height, through the airlines. None have been lost en route, but one shipment did arrive six hours late.