Caretakers and supporters of McKinley Park need the public's help finding a trellis that was stolen over the weekend in the park's rose garden.
According to UC Davis master gardener Ellie Longenecker, the trellis or arbor, is one of 16 custom-made frames, which are used to support plants and trees.
Although the park does not have surveillance video, the arbors weigh hundreds of pounds and are bolted to concrete pads.
"This piece of artwork by a metal sculptor is huge," Longenecker said. "That's not just going to sit in somebody's backyard."
The thefts happened sometime Friday evening or early Saturday morning, but it's still a mystery as to why anyone would want to take the trellis.
"It's not worth anything to send in for scrap metal," Longenecker said. "Sometimes...people take it and scrap it or possibly somebody took it and they plan on reselling it to somebody else. I don't know if a person bought it, they would want to buy something that was stolen from this garden."
Back in 2009, Longenecker, who is also a consulting rosarian through the American Rose Society, helped spearhead a $250,000 restoration project for the park.
In 2012, the Friends of East Sac signed a long-term lease to help manage and maintain the 1,200 bush rose garden.
Since then, there have been no other reported cases of theft, Longenecker said.
"We've had no roses stolen," she said. "Nothing else."
The trellis will cost about $6,000 to replace.
Anyone with information about who may have stolen the trellis, or who knows where it might be is asked to call the Friends of East Sac. You can also make a donation here.
If there's a silver lining for Longenecker, the missing trellis doesn't take away from the garden's aesthetics.
"It's beautiful beyond what I ever hoped or dreamed of back when we tried to help originally restore it," she said. "I feel very fortunate that the garden's here."