Event organizers are looking for a dunk tank they say was stolen early Sunday morning after the Boyle Rodeo wound down.
Yes, a dunk tank.
"What a peculiar story, hey?" said Ashtin Anderson, president of the Boyle and District Agricultural Society.
"It's very hard to believe."
According to Anderson, the community organization had rented the tank from River City Events in Edmonton to use as a fundraiser at the rodeo over the weekend.
"It was there at 3:30 in the morning when we went to bed, after we kicked everybody out of the dance, and it was gone by six."
In the time since, a photo has floated around social media of a group playing in the tank, which was at the time seemingly still on rodeo grounds.
But since then, the trail of evidence has dried up.
"At first we kind of thought it was somebody pulling a prank on us. Like, we went and checked all around our facility, looking to see if somebody may have just moved it and stashed it in the bush or something.
"'Cause who would steal a dunk tank?"
As the tank comes on its own trailer, and a hitch was stolen from a food vendor truck, some suspect the thief or thieves emptied the water and pulled it away.
Boyle RCMP said they believe a dark-coloured pickup truck was involved.
Unless it is found, the Boyle and District Agricultural Society will have to pay the replacement value of the dunk tank as well as loss of revenue to River City Events. The estimate has come in at more than $6,000.
However, the group hopes to still locate the dunk tank.
"We had our tractor stolen a year ago, and because everybody shared that we were able to recover it, so we're hoping this will be the same situation," Anderson said.
Information about the incident can be submitted to Boyle RCMP at 780-689-4081 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
