A piece of artwork intended for this year's Nooks and Crannies Festival in Okotoks was stolen and then returned.
Jenny Dale Stables' piece is a moveable four-piece animal band, but unfortunately, the banjo player, Ricky the Racoon, was stolen.
Stables opted to remake the Racoon even though the original one took her hours to complete.
After spending 16 hours in two days this week, Stables had made a Ricky ready for the festival.
"So, at midnight last night, I had finished the second raccoon," Stables says. "And then this morning, after I went for a run, took my dog out, and then I got a message on Instagram from Jaica from Tipper Records, with a photo, and she says, 'It looks like somebody returned Ricky.' And there he was. Somebody had returned him, and he was on the coffee table platform where all the other characters are. And I was just like, 'Oh my gosh!'"
Stables says that part of her was thrilled it was returned, but the other part of her was still exhausted from having spent all that time making a replacement.
"I'm still thrilled. It doesn't take away from the joy of having it returned, because I think it just shows that somebody cared. Hopefully. Either somebody cared or somebody was scared," Stables says with a chuckle. "Either way, I'm really, really happy it got returned."
There was a bit of damage done to Ricky when he was stolen.
When Stables built the piece, she attached Ricky to the table by his feet.
"So, the feet were completely destroyed and the hand that was attached to the mechanism was also destroyed. It took another two hours to repair it and I had to do some repainting. I also put in extra measures to make sure it doesn't get stolen again."
She is hoping that will help to prevent Ricky from getting stolen again.
Luckily, the mechanism that controlled the band wasn't damaged.
"As a little nod to his journey, I had to put duct tape over his feet in the end, and they ended up looking like he had two casts on his feet, so I signed his cast," Stables says while laughing.
When Stables created the new raccoon, she decided to make it Ricky's sister, Rebbecca Rubbish, who is wearing a pin that says Rock for Ricky, in tribute to her brother.
She is now thinking of changing it to Rocks for Ricky, and doing a campaign where she will provide rocks and ask people to paint them as a way to support public art.
"Leave a message for the artists that are part of this festival and a little encouragement and a thank you and a little bit of gratitude for all the artists that are a part of this," Stables says.
So, Rebbecca Rubbish will be making an appearance at the festival, but won't be making music with the rest of the band.
To learn more about the Nooks and Crannies Festival, click here.