Volunteers with the St. Albert Botanic Park are in shock after vandals destroyed a $20,000 fountain earlier this week.
Margaret Plain, past president of the society that oversees the park, said the fountain has been vandalized before, but the most recent incident will be its death knell.
“It is the third time the fountain has been attacked and we have had to repair it before, but this time we will have to replace it.”
The roughly eight-foot tall structure was in pieces Wednesday morning when a volunteer at the park noticed it and called police. The top parts of the three-tier structure had been pushed over onto the base of the fountain.
The bottom pool, which was made of two-inch thick concrete, was completely fractured and the top tiers were also badly damaged.
Cpl. Laurel Kading with the St. Albert RCMP said police don’t have a lot of information on who might have done the damage.
“It looks like someone pushed over the top part of the fountain causing it to smash into the rest and unfortunately we don’t have a lot more than that.”
Kading said they are now looking for anyone who might have seen someone near the site acting strangely, likely overnight sometime between last Saturday and Wednesday morning.
She said the responding officer did not see any footprints around the fountain, suggesting the crime may have happened closer to the weekend snowstorms.
Plain said they hope to replace the fountain later this year, but haven’t made any firm decisions on what will go in its place. The park has insurance for their building and greenhouse, but Plain said they are unsure if it will cover the fountain.
“Our park is run by volunteers and we have to raise all the money for everything we do at the park, so this will end up being a fairly big blow in terms of cash.”
Kading said the incident seems incredibly senseless and reminiscent of the destruction of a statue behind St. Albert Place last summer.
“It is another huge loss for the community,” she said. “This is another beautiful piece of St. Albert that has now been destroyed.”
Plain agrees it is very disappointing.
“It is a public park, people are free to come and go and I guess we are sad that our hospitality has been abused.”
Anyone with any information is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or the St. Albert RCMP 780-458-7700.
Kading said police would be interested in hearing from people who saw someone running from the site or going into it at an unusual hour or anyone who might have heard talk about the incident.
