CALGARY – Gord Barge has never been so happy to see his 1995 Suburban. Last Thursday, he had parked it Calgary’s Foothills hospital parking lot. But when he finished work, it was gone.
Inside the truck was $8,000 worth of equipment. Barge plays guitar in his band, Vintage Express. It was loaded and ready to go for a show he and his bandmates were going to play that night.
Among the items stolen, was an amp given to Barge by his late brother.
“You feel violated. I’m sure somebody knew it was in there. Why would you come up to a 1995—a 20-year-old vehicle and steal it?”
The band features one familiar face for Calgarians: the keyboardist is former children’s television host, Buck Shot. The story spread across social media with people providing tips and offering donations.
Then on Monday morning, Barge got a surprising call.
“My cellphone goes off and there’s a message from one of my coworkers at work. And it says, ‘Gord, I think I see your vehicle in lot six’—the place on Thursday where it was taken from.”
Gord and his wife, Jody, immediately raced to the Foothills hospital. Sure enough, the truck was there and inside was Barge’s amp.
“I don’t know how to explain it; whether it’s a guy with a conscience and he knew what he had and brought it back or didn’t know what he had.”
Vintage Express can’t begin to thank Calgarians.
“Holy man, as soon as we got the news it was like a big, huge, huge weight lifted off,” sighed Jody Barge, another musician in the band.
“It’s amazing. Our city rocks. Like we rock, this is the best city ever.”