MARYSVILLE – It’s nice to have friends in high places.

A friend of the Marysville Gospel Hall drove 16 hours from Calgara, Canada, with a tent to save its two-week revival starting this weekend.

The gospel hall needed one because their huge yellow-and-white one was stolen last Saturday.

“It’s a smaller tent with fewer chairs, but it’s the same kind of setup,” Pastor Phil Kazen told The Herald in Everett in a story Friday.

Kazen of the gospel hall on 116th near Marysville-Pilchuck High School told The Globe Tuesday that a trailer containing the 40 foot by 100 foot tent was stolen from the church July 21. Speakers for the revival are coming from as far away as Illinois and Wisconsin.

About 27,000 invitations have been mailed out in the local area for the revival, which will start July 29 in the field east of the church. Kazen said such a tent wouldn’t mean much to thieves, but it’s worth over $20,000 to the church. The trailer also contained stakes, poles, tiedown supplies and 95 green plastic chairs.

Kazen said the thieves are going to wonder, “What to do with this? Maybe they won’t throw it in the garbage.” He said he would love to have it returned or even put in a place where it could be safely recovered.

Neighbors said they saw two hispanic men with what looked like a rake or shovel walking around the church’s landscaping around 2 p.m. that Saturday One wore a red t-shirt and a baseball cap. They hooked up the 2008 American Hauler trailer (WA license #0706UT) to a white crew cab pickup and drove off.

Anyone with information is asked to call Marysville police.