Airdrie resident Daniel Lemay, owner and operator of Lemay's Kettle Korn, had a soccer tournament to attend on Saturday, which meant that he planned to pick up his kettle corn trailer the evening prior. However, the message he received on his way home from work meant he would spend the next several days looking for answers, rather than serving customers.

"I got a call from the people where I stored the trailer and she asked me if I was going to be bringing my trailer back this weekend as they wanted to cut the grass and I said, I don't have my trailer," Lemay said.

After a phone call, Lemay realized that his trailer was gone.

"Of course, I rushed out and once I got to this storage place [within Airdrie], my trailer was gone and the lock had been cut off. It was sitting on the ground."

Airdrie RCMP confirmed that they are currently investigating the incident.

"The theft was reported on June 21 and was believed to have occurred on June 20. The investigation is ongoing," wrote Cpl. James McConnell of the Airdrie Community Policing Unit.

Lemay and his wife are well known in the community for their kettle corn truck, which is hard to miss, as it is wrapped in bright red, with large popcorn kernels adorning the trailer. Residents have more than likely seen them at community events including AirdrieFEST, as well as the Airdrie Children's Festival, and other hallmark events. 

"My wife and I are both getting close to retirement and we started this kettle corn thing about three years ago," Lemay explained. "[When]we decided to do this, I bought a brand new trailer and we outfitted it just to do kettle corn. We put a lot of money and a lot of effort into getting this trailer."

The Lemays, along with their children, took to social media to ask residents for their help. Their post has been shared hundreds of times, with an outpouring of anger and sympathy for the couple's plight.

"There was one tip on Saturday. A fellow had given us a location and a bunch of my neighbours in the area, they all got in their vehicles and we decided to go out and have a look," he said. "We didn't find anything and then the next day we had another tip, they had seen it around the Bayside area; and so of course, we went to look there, and there was nothing there. We're exploring anything that we get."

Lemay said that there has also been support from the food truck community within Airdrie and Calgary, and even as far as Fort McMurray.

"Anybody that's in a food truck business, we work hard to get up to some of these events and when you lose something like this, it hurts."

Lemay said that he was also booked for a whole host of Canada Day events come next weekend, including Airdrie's first-ever multicultural festival - Airdrie CultureFest.

"As far as a contingency plan; we don't know. I can't get a trailer built fast enough to do this. We're trying to look for a used [one]. Right now, our hands are tied," Lemay said. "It's tough right now because everything is gone. I have nothing left. Everything was in the trailer that I owned. We're keeping our fingers crossed and hopefully, there's something left that we can work with."

When asked what Lemay would say to the individual or individuals responsible, he said there is some anger that lingers, but also a question.

"Why? Why do people do things that they do? You lock everything up, and all the lock[s] to do, is they keep the honest people out," he said. "But what is the reasoning for taking somebody's livelihood? I don't understand it. That's a hard question. At some point you think, they must have had a reason, but what reason good reason could they have?"

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