Christmas came early in Oak Bay on Wednesday (Aug. 3) when the district’s missing seasonal wooden cut-outs of Charlie Brown, Sally and Snoopy re-materialized at Entrance Park after disappearing more than eight months ago.
District parks manager Chris Hyde-Lay said a local resident happened upon the three Peanuts characters while passing by the park at Oak Bay Avenue and Foul Bay Road earlier this week and quickly informed municipal staff of their return.
The parks department was subsequently notified and brought the cut-outs back to their off-season home to rest their singing voices until the next 12 days of Christmas.
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“People are reaching out to express their excitement that Charlie, his sister Sally and his dog Snoopy are finally back,” Hyde-Lay said, describing them as only “a hint worse for wear” after having gone missing in late November 2021.
Tim Roberts and his daughter, Meghan, who both work for the district, built Charlie Brown, Sally, Snoopy and two other untouched wooden cartoon characters to deck the halls of Oak Bay Avenue with some classic Christmas spirit.
“It was done as a district family project years and years ago,” Hyde-Lay recalled, adding that the sudden disappearance of the beloved figures led to much disappointment in the community ahead of last Christmas.
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For December 2021, to compensate for the missing brother, sister and dog around Entrance Park’s annually-installed Charlie Brown Christmas tree, community members contributed replacement cut-outs of Charlie Brown, Sally and Snoopy, as well as a bonus one of Lucy van Pelt.
But as Hyde-Lay expressed of the original three’s unexpected return, “This really was an early Christmas miracle.”
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