Vintage sign stolen, returned

Grand Country posted on their Facebook page videos of a man stealing the sign from next to the candy and fudge store on Wednesday, July 21. The hand-painted sign was specially made for the store by a friend of Grand Country owner Glenn Robinson over 40 years ago, and has stood somewhere inside the complex since its donation.

The series of videos shows the man stealing an apron, using the apron to drape over the sign to mask it, then casually taking the sign out to his truck and moving to leave the parking lot. The man waited until around 7 p.m. to steal the sign, when the Grand Country Jubilee show was preparing to start, meaning the area around the sign would be a lot busier than usual.

Grand Country offered a $500 reward to anyone who could identify the man in the video and help with the return of the sign.

The attraction reported Sunday the return of the sign after the man “had a change of heart.”

A woman who identified the man in the video reached out to him and convinced him to “do the right thing” by returning the sign. He walked into the gift shop at Grand Country and gave back the sign. 

“We are so grateful to the community and Grand Country fans across the country who shared our post to help us get it back,” a Grand Country spokesperson told Branson Tri-Lakes News. “Our thanks to the woman who recognized the thief in the video and encouraged him to do the right thing and return it!”

Grand Country never filed a police report, instead leaning on the community to help them, which in the end brought the beloved sign home.

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