The most famous flower box in Grimsby has been returned.
“I got into Teddy’s this morning at 8 and there they were. We haven’t looked at camera footage, but it doesn’t matter. They’re back,” Sandy Jaskula, owner of Teddy’s Pub, told Niagara Info on Monday morning.
Late on Saturday night, a woman was caught on a surveillance video at Teddy’s Pub as she stole a decorative flower box outside the pub.
“I noticed (the flower box) missing and my son checked the camera and we said: Whoa!,” Sandy Jaskula, owner of Teddy’s Pub, told Niagara Info on Sunday evening.
The video shows the blonde perpetrator initially taking a flower box, but changes her mind and puts it back, and moves on further west along the walkway to another flower box on a barrier closer to the video camera outside Teddy’s. She takes that one and walks off.
On Sunday, Jaskula posted an image of the missing spot where the flower box was on Teddy’s Facebook page with the text: “To the 2 women walking by Teddy’s at 11:15 pm last night could you please return the planter you took? These planters along Main Street were purchased by the DIA to help make the barriers look better. Just to be clear that they aren’t Teddy’s planter boxes. They just happened to pick one with a good camera view.”
The DIA is the Downtown Improvement Area, a business association that promotes businesses in downtown Grimsby. It installed the flower boxes on concrete barriers after the sidewalk expansion program was completed as Grimsby enter Stage 3 of the COVID-19 recovery plan.
On Sunday afternoon, Jaskula posted the 37-second surveillance video on Facebook with the message: “Update: the flowers were not returned. Here is the video which is pretty clear. If you know this lady or you are this lady please bring the flowers back. Once they are returned we will take this video down. Please let this be a reminder to anyone that these flowers are meant to keep our downtown beautiful and not your front porch.”
The video was originally posted at https://www.facebook.com/teddysgrimsby/. But has since been removed.
By Sunday evening the video had been shared 715 times. “That is insane!” said Jaskula.
The video surveillance system was installed as the start of the COVID-19 shutdown happened. It has also caught kids trying to enter Teddy’s basement. “So it’s paying off,” Jaskula said.
She said the flower box bandit was not been reported to the police. She hoped the thief would return the box inconspicuously to avoid further embarrassment.
Overnight Sunday, the flower box was returned.
“Thank you to the temporary owner for bringing the flowers back,” said Jaskula in a post to Teddy’s Pub Facebook page.