'Pretty devastated': Calgary small business pleads for return of stolen portable playground
Simon Nash spent days scrambling to clean and collect extra children's play equipment after thieves got away with a custom-made portable playground.
Security footage shows a black Dodge Ram truck towing a silver trailer away from a northeast Calgary warehouse area shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
The children's playground was packed inside the trailer — gone when staff showed up at the warehouse later in the day.
"(The trailer) vanished and I had to rack my brain for a minute or two to think where it could be and realized it's been taken and it was our playground, already loaded for an event the next morning," Simon said.
Simon and Marija Nash are the co-owners of Sprog and Sprocket and rent out the playground and other children's equipment for events and birthdays.
The Stampede and summer season is one of their busiest times of year.
"It was a special playground because it captures such a broad audience, so we loved setting it up," Marija said.
"We were just about to be doing a lot of Stampede events. It's perfect for the community events and the markets that happen."
Sprog and Sprocket staff are now cleaning and collecting similar children's play equipment out of storage to bring to some of the booked events, but the set-ups will be much different without the slide and ball pit.
The pair designed and had the portable playground made seven years ago this week.
The trailer and equipment are covered by insurance, but Simon says it would take months to re-make the structure, meaning they'd lose out on the busy Stampede season.
"(We're) pretty devastated about the playground going missing. But anyone who knows me knows I always try to make a positive out of a negative. I'm sure something good will come out of this," he said.
Calgary Police are investigating, and urging anyone with information to contact them at 403-266-1234.
Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6952947.1720194076!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Earth's core has slowed so much it's moving backward, scientists confirm. Here's what it could mean
Deep inside Earth is a solid metal ball that rotates independently of our spinning planet, like a top whirling around inside a bigger top, shrouded in mystery.
Eight-year-old boy pulled from water covered in blood after bite at Montreal beach
An eight-year-old boy from Los Angeles had his vacation to Montreal include a dramatic moment when a creature swimming underwater bit him causing a bloody scene at Jean Dore beach.
Conservatives vow to remove Liberals' pick for Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Opposition Conservatives vowed Friday that a future Pierre Poilievre-led government would remove the man the Liberals just appointed to lead the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Canada's envoy in London hopeful Britain's Labour party will restart trade talks
The Labour Party’s landslide win in the United Kingdom election Thursday is renewing hope that trade talks between Ottawa and London could re-start according to Canada’s High Commissioner in the U.K.
Ottawa woman, 49, wins $70 million, plans to help community
An Ottawa woman, who has survived cancer and has overcome addiction, has won $70 million with Lotto Max.
After leaving path of destruction in Jamaica and Caribbean, Hurricane Beryl heads towards Mexico
After leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean and at least nine people dead, Hurricane Beryl weakened as it chugged over open water toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, going from the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic to Category 2 by the afternoon.
Church must pay $104 million to victims of historical abuse in Newfoundland
The Roman Catholic Church has been ordered to pay settlements totalling $104 million to 292 survivors of historical abuse in Newfoundland and Labrador, including those at the now infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John's.
Democrats start moving to Harris as Biden digs in
Amid the ongoing fallout from U.S. President Joe Biden’s debate performance, talk in many top Democratic circles has already moved to who Kamala Harris’ running mate would be.
Vatican excommunicates former U.S. ambassador Vigano, declares him guilty of schism
The Vatican has excommunicated its former ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, after finding him guilty of schism, an inevitable end for the firebrand conservative who became a symbol of the polarized Catholic Church in the U.S. and beyond.