It’s taken a lot of work for Brooke Ervin to become the Queen of party inflatables, and bouncy castles are her specialty.
“I am in the happiness industry,” says Ervin, who has operated Just Bounce Inflatables since 2012.
While Ervin may be the queen of castles, you’ll no doubt know the princess. Her daughter Hannah Day died in 2019 after a long and public battle with cancer. Amid that battle, her business was born.
“The whole business started hoping to send our family to Disneyland,” she says. “I had one inflatable at the time, and I grew the business from there.”
Ervin says she’s got about 20 inflatables that she rents out, but much of the time she’s donating inflatables to charities, as well as people who can’t afford it.
“I get cancellations all the time. Costs come up, and people have to cancel, but I’m the one who shows up anyway,” she laughs.
Ervin’s community contributions are substantial. Aside from donating time and resources through her business, she started making hundreds of free meals for families in the community during COVID following Hannah’s death.
“This business is all about giving.”
Saturday, however, someone took advantage of her good nature.
“I got a call saying the weather is beautiful and they’d really like to rent one of my inflatables.” Ervin asked for their email address and the address of the home and loaded up her biggest inflatable, a custom-made 15′ x 17′ two-level bouncy castle.
“I let them know I was on my way. They responded saying they’d just run out to grab the cake, if I could please set it up on the driveway,” she says.
Ervin says that’s standard practice in her business. She left the home at 777 Cuaulta Cres. in Langford, expecting to receive a money transfer.
“That’s the last I ever heard from them,” she says.
On top of getting stiffed on the bill, she returned to the home to find out the castle had been stolen. The home, it turns out, was vacant, and the phone number she received the texts from was generated by an app.
The castle is one-of-a-kind and is her company’s biggest asset.
“I just want it back,” she says. “To whoever took it, please just return it to the home, or leave it anywhere with a note.”
Ervin posted her experience along with a picture of the bouncy castle to social media groups and the response was immediate.
“I had people offering to fly over the area with drones,” she said. But the most impactful message she received was from her main competitor, a company called Fun Times Inflatables.
“They offered me a castle similar to mine so I could get through the next couple of weeks. They wouldn’t take my money, so I offered them cookies.”
Tuesday afternoon she received a picture through social media of a white SUV on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Millstream overpass in Langford, carrying what appeared to be the castle.
“I’ll offer a thousand dollars to whoever returns it,” she says.
Ervin tells CHEK News she’s notified West Shore RCMP and says she was told it would be difficult to prove the inflatable is hers, even if it’s located.
Ervin says she’s lost sleep and doesn’t know what to do if the castle isn’t recovered. She’s hoping whoever took it will do the right thing.
“I’ll even offer the people who stole it free castles,” she says.
If you have any information on the inflatable theft, you’re asked to contact West Shore RCMP.
Jordan Cunningham
