Detroit City FC's mascot Friendly was stolen, then back within a weekend

Detroit City FC asked supporters to help track down Friendly, the club's bear mascot, after the costume was stolen from a staff member's car over the weekend. By Monday it was back.

The club announced the theft Saturday on Instagram under a notice headed "MISSING," telling fans the costume had been taken in an overnight car break-in. The bear was last seen in the New Center area near East Grand Boulevard and St. Antoine Street, according to the post. The club said the staff member was safe and that the break-in was not their fault, and it asked supporters to keep an eye out and to share the notice so it would travel.

The recovery came fast. A good Samaritan spotted the costume near where it had gone missing, and a club staff member collected it on Monday, June 15, the club said. The bear turned up a little dusty but otherwise intact and is back in service. A club co-owner told FOX 2 Detroit that Friendly was found discarded but had come through fine, and joked that in a town like Detroit, a lost polar bear gets found inside a day.

For anyone who does not follow the club, the name carries some history. Friendly is not a designed-from-scratch mascot. Detroit City FC has long told the story that the polar bear suit was pulled from a dumpster in the club's early years, and the team leaned into it, posting in 2018 that Friendly was "found in a dumpster for $0" and calling him Detroit's mascot of the people. The accidental bear became one of the most recognizable things about a club that built its identity on doing things its own scrappy way.

Since then Friendly has worked the family section at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck and turned up at community events, and supporters have folded him into their banners and chants. A mascot rescued from the trash, briefly stolen and quickly returned, fits the club about as well as anything could.