Thunderbird Farms Arena has awards and equipment stolen

Thunderbird Farms Arena, run by the nonprofit Thunderbird Arena Community Council, was robbed sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday morning.

Jennifer Faunce, president of TACC, said the stolen items included three PA systems, LED arena lights, an LED timer board, a box of about 15 custom belt buckles, three trophy bracelets and other awards meant for the kids who participate in the arena’s rodeo events.

“I was kind of shocked in a way because we haven’t ever had a problem in that facility since I’ve been around,” Faunce said. “But at the same time, I kind of wasn’t surprised because we’ve had a lot of theft out here in our area lately.”

Faunce said what shocked her more was which items were stolen, “because they took stuff that was custom and specialized for children that does them absolutely no good. They can pawn it, but nobody wants to buy a buckle, they want to win that and have something that they actually worked hard for and earned.”

TACC, which became a nonprofit in 2014, filed a police report with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. InMaricopa has contacted PCSO for comment.

Faunce estimated everything stolen was valued at about $10,000.

She added the arena has an event tomorrow and was lucky enough to have someone step up and loan the arena a PA system so that it can continue to host events.

“We’re trying right now to fundraise to try to get money back for those awards,” Faunce said.

Thunderbird Farms Arena opened in unincorporated Maricopa, 12365 N. Ralston Road, in 2012 to give the community a facility to host western events for kids and adults.

Faunce noted TACC hosts nonequine events like shooting and ATV racing at the arena.

“It’s just a place for the community to get involved and kind of hang out and keep the kids active,” Faunce said.

TACC has set up a GiveSendGo online fundraising campaign in an effort to raise money to replace the stolen equipment and awards.

“It takes a long time for such a little club to be able to accumulate those funds for that kind of stuff,” Faunce said of the stolen objects.

Faunce said she is hopeful the sheriff’s office will be able to locate the burglar and return the stolen items to the arena, however, she knows that the likelihood of that happening is low.

“I know it’s slim to none sometimes, so that’s why we did go ahead and go with the GoFundMe to hopefully get that stuff replaced as soon as possible,” Faunce said. “We hope that people from the community are willing to help so that we’re not strapped at the end of the year without having awards for these kids that work their butts off.”