The Buddy Bench has been found and is back where it belongs.
Last week, Mission artist Luchia Feman told The Record that the artistic-looking bench had gone missing.
After a story appeared in the newspaper and online, she began to get calls from the public, offering support and other positive comments. However it was an anonymous note left for her that finally allowed her to recover the bench.
The note said the bench was sitting quietly in someone’s backyard, not that far from where it was taken.
It didn’t take long for Feman to take action.
“I managed to retrieve it with the help of a friend. I have not spoken to the people as there was no one home.”
A neighbour then helped secure the bench back in place on the corner of Second Ave and Birch St.
“There was a steady procession all day of people slowing down, stopping, honking, yelling and cheering “buddy’s back.”
But the story has one more twist.
“I had a chance conversation with a stranger who had also seen the article. He said he loved the concept of community benches, and had in fact installed one a couple years ago.”
It was by the paint department for customers in Fraser Valley Rona to relax while their waited for their paint to be mixed.
The man said one day the bench was gone, sold to a customer.
Feman was that customer! And she turned that bench into the buddy bench.
“I remember having to twist their (Rona management’s) arms quite hard to get the assembled one … You just never know what the back story is going to be.”