Breaux Bridge parade performance disrupted by stolen equipment
BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (KLFY) -- Michael Barber says he and his students were set to perform in the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Parade on Sunday, but after their equipment was stolen, they had to improvise.
"They were hurt, and they were hurt to see me cry," said Barber. "It's not fair to the kids because the kids work hard, my kids work hard every weekend, and we travel all over Acadiana to perform, we were supposed to perform this weekend and now we can't."
Barber, the director of Mike's Gents and Ladies of Elegance School Dance, says he and his students went to KO Storage in Breaux Bridge to retrieve their equipment around 8 a.m. on Sunday. He says when he got to the storage unit, he found the lock on the unit missing and the inside completely empty.
"When I got to the storage, everything was gone, I noticed a lock was gone, and when I raised the door up to the storage, I noticed all our equipment was gone, I ended up at the parade route, along with my kids, with no equipment to perform," said Barber.
Barber says nearly $5,000 worth of equipment was stolen.
"Between the speakers, a laptop, wiring, two generators and a banner, you're looking at almost $5,000 in stolen goods," he said.
Despite this, Barber's students did manage to perform in the parade thanks to the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Association and people along the route.
"Good people from the city helped us to where we could get behind their float and they helped us with music we could perform," said Barber.
Barber says his dance school also had a performance scheduled for next Saturday but had to cancel due to their equipment being stolen. He sends this message to the person involved in the theft.
"To whoever did this malicious act, it's not fair to kids," said Barber. "It's not about me, it's about the kids, and these kids don't have an outlet already, so you need to think about that."
Barber says he has contacted Breaux Bridge Police and filed a report to investigate the theft.
If you would like to donate to help Michael and his students replace their stolen equipment, click here.