Elmwood outdoor event venue hit by thieves

A shed built by Elmwood residents, which was filled with donations for a neighbourhood community space, was stolen over the long weekend.

The shed was on a flatbed trailer behind a chain-locked gate at 243 Henderson Hwy, the site of a years-long project headed by the Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. to transform the lot into a gathering space.

The absence of the shed and trailer was noticed Monday night.

“It’s a big flatbed, so you would need a truck. I’m thinking it was very well planned out,” said executive director Leilani Villarba on Tuesday.

It was filled with handmade park benches, flower boxes, an archway and donations from people looking to beautify the space at the corner of Johnson Avenue.

“It held things that were donated by the community. (It was) built by the community and conceived and and created by the community,” Villarba said. “I’m just devastated.”

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy confirmed the theft had been reported to police Tuesday.

He said the incident had been “tasked for followup investigation” but had no details.

The lot officially opened as an outdoor event space last summer, but had been in the works as early as 2015, when the Chalmers neighbourhood group began talks with the city and Suncor, the corporation that owns the land. It is the former site of a gas station.

Villarba said they have been building the space as funding rolled in.

The theft is especially upsetting, she said, because the space was a project supported by late Elmwood-East Kildonan councillor Jason Schreyer, who died in April.

“It’s really sad that it’s gone, because that was a part of his legacy as well,” she said.

Anyone with any information on the theft should contact the Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. at 204-669-0750 or visit them at 180 Poplar Avenue.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca