By Dominic Abassi

Return of the Rock Dragon: stolen public art piece found in parking lot

Jul 2, 2018 | 8:35 AM

NANAIMO — Maffeo Sutton Park will once again be under the watchful eye of a majestic dragon.

One week after the public art piece Rock Dragon mysteriously disappeared from its perch in the park on June 22, the roughly 80-pound aluminum beast was found wrapped in a neon green sleeping bag in the parking lot of the Nanaimo North library branch.

Artist Heather Wall said a library employee sent her a Facebook message with the good news on Friday afternoon.

“The claws were hanging out the bottom of the blanket and she knew exactly what it was right away,” Wall told NanaimoNewsNOW. “I’m pretty excited about it. I had accepted that it was gone and I was going to need to make a new one.”

Nanaimo RCMP are holding the dragon until Wall, who lives in Powell River, can come pick it up. She didn’t know if the dragon was damaged, but feared repairs would be needed because the librarian heard some “clunking” noises inside the blanket.

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Wall chuckled as she recounted the difficulty Nanaimo RCMP had picking up the four-foot-tall dragon with wings spread wide.

“They sent a cruiser and quickly discovered, nope that’s not going to work.”

Many people online speculated the theft could have been a grad prank. Wall said it was certainly brazen the way it was returned in broad daylight and if it was a prank, it was a brave one.

“I don’t think they were expecting that can of worms,” she said, noting the national media attention the story garnered. “What were you thinking?”

While she’s ecstatic her creation will return to its home in Maffeo Sutton, Wall lamented the costs ahead of her, saying she’ll likely need to travel to Nanaimo at least twice to repair and then return the piece.

“If they do catch who is responsible, maybe they can be the ones to pay for it.”

dom@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @domabassi