THUNDER BAY — A community fire pit that plays a prominent role in the annual Westfort Wonderland event is back where it belongs.
For the past three years the metal fire pit – custom-made in Thunder Bay by Nate Spina – has been a gathering spot for the pre-Christmas community celebration organized by the Westfort Village Association.
On Sunday night, it disappeared from its storage location where it had been covered by a tarp.
Matt Popowich, a member of the association's board of directors, checked a security camera and found video of someone taking the fire pit away on a cart just moments earlier.
That led to this post on Facebook: We need your help! Our branded fire pit—an essential part of our beloved Westfort Wonderland event—has gone missing. This fire pit brings our community together every Christmas, providing a cozy spot for families to enjoy complimentary s’mores and holiday fun. 
If you’ve seen it or know anything about it, please urge the person to return it to our neighborhood. No questions asked—we just want it back so we can keep this festive tradition alive!
Almost immediately, the request for information drew numerous responses from people who believed they recognized the individual in the video.
"We got a private message with an address sometime in the night. The next morning, my brother and I drive to the house, we look in the backyard, and there it is, all set up on these patio stones. Like, 'you're kidding me,' " Popowich recalled Tuesday in an interview with Newswatch.
"So within 12 hours we had the fire pit back."
He said he's not surprised with how the incident played out.
"It's just such a passionate community here, and it's a pretty positive Facebook group. When something like that happens, something as small as a firepit that means so much to this event that we have...We just had a feeling it was going to work out."
This year's Westfort Wonderland celebration is scheduled for Dec. 5.
