Fiddler on the loose: High River restaurant owner offers reward for stolen sculpture
CBC News | Posted: June 23, 2017 5:25 PM | Last Updated: June 23, 2017
The quirky figure of a fiddler in a sombrero vanished earlier this month
The owner of a Mexican restaurant in High River is looking for a stolen sculpture of a fiddler that stood at the entrance to his eatery.
Hector Lopez opened the restaurant a year ago, calling it Rio Alto, a Spanish translation of the name of the southern Alberta town.
A rusting sculpture of a fiddler in a sombrero stood outside the front door — a welcome gift from another restaurant owner on the street.
Lopez's restaurant is busy thanks to word-of-mouth about his family's Mexican food and the curiosity of Heartland fans peering into the windows of the set of Maggie's Diner across the street. High River stands in for the fictional town of Hudson on the CBC TV show.
"People take a lot of pictures," said Lopez.
But Lopez didn't bother locking up the sculpture, which he now regrets.
"I'm really, really surprised," Lopez said of the theft earlier this month. "I didn't put something secure because it's just a Mexican statue.... I didn't think nobody needed it."
Lopez is offering a reward for the return of the sculpture. He said the fiddler is about four feet tall (1.2 metres) and made of rusting metal.
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Should Alberta let the sun set on daylight saving time? Have your say online
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | More images of Strathmore armed robbery suspect released