Knife found in Granville Island children’s ball pit

A Metro Vancouver mother says she’s still in shock after a knife was found in a children’s ball pit on Granville Island over the weekend.

New Westminster mom Natalee Lovelock was with her family at the Children’s Festival on Saturday, telling CityNews after her child enjoyed some productions and the water park, they decided to head to the Adventure Zone indoor playground within the Kids Market.

“Our son really wanted to go and play in there. The only entrance is at the top of the play zone, which is the second floor of the market. So we went up there, paid to get in,” she explained

Describing the scene as “a little hectic and frantic,” Lovelock says as she was watching from below, she noticed a group of kids her son’s age playing in the back corner, all of them “looking down at something.”

“I saw a thing in one of the kids’ hands that looked like, I thought maybe a toy knife … and I looked closer and it was definitely like a four-inch switchblade, a folding knife that comes in. Not a Swiss Army (knife), a full-on switchblade, and it was open,” she recalled.

“I was absolutely appalled that this had happened. I was in utter shock. It’s the furthest thing from your mind that there’s going to be a weapon in a ball pit, in a child’s area, especially something that seems to be so secure.”

The Kids Market on Granville Island in Vancouver. (CityNews Image)

It’s unclear if the knife was open when the children found it or if they opened it.

“As soon as I saw what it was, I started yelling out, ‘Kids, put it down, don’t touch it! It’s dangerous. Someone’s going to get hurt, please leave it alone.’ And they were very quick to leave it alone,” Lovelock said.

The mother says once her husband was inside to retrieve the knife, other concerning items were found, including a small container “with a lighter in it … and small cylindrical wrap packages” that “kind of looked like rolling papers.”

According to Adventure Zone Manager Luke Chuck, nothing like this has ever happened there before.

He tells CityNews as soon as the knife was reported, he and another staff member responded right away.

“There was indeed a pocket knife and then we kept looking and found a box with some matches, Band-Aids, and looked like a survival kit, or something like that,” he explained.

Adventure Zone looks at changes after knife discovery

The theory, he says, is that a parent may have gone in with these items and dropped them in the ball pit.

“It’s totally unacceptable, of course, but when we looked around further there was nothing else,” Chuck said.

“Unfortunately, what we should have done was — most of the kids were out already by that time — but we should have had the rest of the kids out just to make sure the coast was clear and so on.”

Chuck says the incident is prompting some changes at Adventure Zone. Mainly, he says the facility will look at asking adults and children to empty their pockets before they enter, to ensure they don’t drop anything inside.

“We definitely don’t want a repeat of this again. This is definitely of utmost importance to us,” he added, noting he’s spoken with Lovelock about this incident.

“We cannot have this happen again, of course.”

Lovelock confirms she received a call from staff shortly after reporting the discovery, with management promising to look at making some changes.

The ordeal, however, has left her with a sinking feeling.

“Other parents were just as shocked as I was and we were all trying to work together to get [the kids] out. The emotions carry over into the evening — my husband and I were utterly shocked for the entire drive home. Your life flashes before your eyes for a second because if one wrong move happens, if one kid trips trying to get out and the other kid’s holding it and he gets stabbed, it’s tragic,” Lovelock described.

In addition to asking kids and adults to clear their pockets before entering the ball pit, Lovelock says she’d like to see staff regularly patrol the site to ensure “everything’s in working order,” though Chuck says this is already being done.

Meanwhile, Lovelock says while she will take her family back to Granville Island and the Kids Market, they won’t be going back to Adventure Zone for the time being.

“Any of these large indoor playgrounds with the ball pits, our son loves that stuff, but if and when we decide to go back … we’re going to be in there, we’re going to ask a lot of questions, we’re going to ask when was an employee in there last to check if it was safe if it was clean,” she said, urging other parents to also be vigilant.

“It’s something to be aware of. You think it’s going to be safe but you just never know. Parents have got to pay attention.”