Michigan city gifts purple dinosaur to the city of Rogersville to replace stolen one

ROGERSVILLE, Mo. (KY3) - Christmas came early for the kids in Rogersville after the city was gifted a purple dinosaur playground piece to replace a stolen one.

For decades, the purple dinosaur that held a special place in the community’s hearts went missing during park construction in August. KY3 reported on the community’s efforts to find the playground piece. A man in Michigan saw the story. He contacted the city of Rogersville saying he had the exact same dinosaur and was willing to donate it.

“When you look up this dinosaur and try to replace it, you never find the exact one,” said City Administrator Chad Bybee. “For him to reach out to us and be the exact one, it was fate that the dinosaur needed to be here. It was very interesting to learn how many people enjoyed their first ride on something like this. How many young kids that actually have been a part of it.”

Several members of the community raised funds to replace the dinosaur. The city used those funds to have the new piece shipped. Seeing the replacement made the children of the community pretty happy.

“I’m really excited to see the dinosaur because it was one of my favorite toys to play on,” said Evelyn Brooke “Everyone was like, sometimes getting in line to get on it. That’s pretty good that it’s back because everyone actually missed it a bunch.”

The playground piece was unveiled on Saturday at the Rogersville Christmas parade. The city will install the playground piece in the park soon.

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