An oversized, bright blue Muskoka chair has gone missing from a display in front of a store at King Street and Wyman Road in Waterloo.
The theft from WeSellIt Ltd. is believed to have occurred sometime between 6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday.
The chair, which weighs over 400 kg, is 5 feet wide, 6 feet long and 10 feet high. It is one of only four similar chairs ever made.
Store owner Barry Triller says they’ve had thefts before, but he isn’t sure how it’s possible no one noticed the giant chair being moved.
“We’re right on King Street here in Waterloo so I don’t know how they could do it without being seen.”
Waterloo Region police spokesperson Olaf Heinzel says “We would anticipate that either it was a large number of people working together or they were using some form of equipment, perhaps a forklift-style equipment and tractor-trailer combination to perhaps move this.”
In fact, Triller and his employees suspect the chair was dismantled before it was stolen as a pair of large screws, a washer and some blue paint marks were left behind.
“So if you had ten guys with ramps you could probably push it up onto a pickup truck, if not, take it apart into about ten big pieces, each about 100 pounds, store it in the back of a truck and who knows where it is.”
The chair was custom made in 2011 to draw attention to the store, and hundreds of people have stopped to have their photo taken with the giant chair known as ‘Big Blue.’
“It became a great tourist item from the point of view people would be heading out to the market, they would stop, the kids would get out, they’d climb in the chair and mom and dad would take pictures.”
But Triller says his dog Wesley, who first discovered the theft, seems to be missing it the most.
“He was outside and all of a sudden he was barking and barking and I was wondering what it was. I went out and he was sitting right where the chair was staring down at the ground, barking.”
He’s is asking whoever took it to consider returning it, not for the tourists, but for his four-legged friend.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-653-7700 Ext. 3399 or Crime Stoppers.
