Community rallies to help Merry Dairy recover missing ice cream bike
There was a swift response from the community to help find a missing ice cream bicycle cart.
The Merry Dairy on Fairmount Avenue, in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood, posted on social media that their blue and white bicycle cart had gone missing Friday night.
“This bike went missing overnight,” the Merry Dairy said, showing a picture of the pedal-powered cart with pictures of ice cream and a bicycling Canada goose and goslings on it. “Any information on its whereabouts would be so appreciated.”
People reacted swiftly to the disappearance of the bike, wondering how anyone could take it and hoping it would be found.
“One tire was flat,” the Merry Dairy said in a reply to a Facebook comment, “so shouldn’t be too far away!”
Several people quickly pointed out they had seen the bike on Elgin Street, about 3.5 km away from the Merry Dairy’s main location.
Within 30 minutes, the popular ice cream shop said their bike had been found, right where some eagle-eyed residents said it was.
“It has been found near Elgin Street! Thank you everyone for sharing,” an updated post said.
Owner Marlene Haley tells CTV News the cart is being used as a flower box at the moment. It’s part of the morning routine that staff bring it out front each day.
“They went to move it and noticed it was gone,” Haley said. “They looked around the immediate area and realized it had been taken.”
The post about the missing cart was put out on social media channels and Haley said the response was very quick.
“The community was amazing. We had people offering to share it on missing bike pages. On Facebook, it was shared 115 times in 45 minutes. It reached so many people,” Haley said.
Tips came in almost immediately. Someone said they saw someone riding it on Gladstone Avenue. Others said they spotted it on Elgin. It wasn't long before the cart was recovered.
“We followed the path where we found it and got our flowers back, too,” she said.
The cart is now safe and sound.
Haley said it was originally purchased with the intention of doing bicycle deliveries, but they found it was a bit heavy.
“There are a lot of hills near us, so we’re using it as a flower box right now,” she said. The shop is looking at acquiring an e-bike for deliveries.
The Merry Dairy was in the news recently when it ran into an issue with its wholesale operation, following a visit by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which said the store could not sell its wholesale products because it was not a dairy plant under the Milk Act.
The community came out to help the shop then, too.
In a post on the shop’s blog, owner Haley said the community response helped highlight to provincial representatives that there is “an opportunity here to update regulations to accommodate small enterprises and reflect the realities of life in 2022.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Western University researchers unlock potential 'cure' for ALS
New research out of London, Ont.'s Western University is shedding light on a potential cure for ALS, in which the targeting of the interaction between two proteins can halt or fully reverse the disease's progression.
What Michael Cohen said on the stand in Trump hush money case
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial took the stand Monday with testimony that could help shape the outcome of the first criminal case against an American president.
Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives
Crews conducted a controlled demolition Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.
Police release 3D images of young child found in an Ontario river two years ago
Police have released a three-dimensional image of a young child whose remains were discovered in the Grand River in Dunnville, Ont. almost two years ago.
Kamala Harris drops F-bomb during White House live-stream
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris used a profanity on Monday while offering advice to young Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders about how to break through barriers.
Behind the barricades: How protesters spend their first days in a new encampment
Students in Montreal describe life in a newly erected encampment in Montreal as a whirlwind of preparations, from facing rain and a potential police crackdown to setting up a space for the exchange of ideas.
Security video caught admitted serial killer disposing of bodies in Winnipeg garbage bins
Security video caught admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki on multiple late-night outings, disposing of body parts in nearby garbage bins and dumpsters in the middle of the night.
Next 48 hours will be 'extremely challenging' for B.C. wildfire crews near Fort Nelson: officials
A wildfire burning dangerously close to Fort Nelson, B.C., has grown to more than 50 square kilometres, and officials are warning that the blaze's behaviour is expected to become more volatile over the next 48 hours.
Southern Ont. man charged with attempted murder in Timmins shooting
One of two men wanted for attempted murder in Timmins has been arrested, while a warrant has been issued for a second suspect, who fled police on foot.