The Kinsmen Spray Park has recently been shut down by the City Council due to vandalism.
City of Prince Albert Parks and Open Spaces Manager Tim Yeaman said someone went into the park and destroyed the head of one of the spray points earlier in the week, or possibly over the Aug. 24-25 weekend.
“We heard that some teenagers went into the Kinsmen Splash Park and vandalized one of the main structures that has one of the animal heads on it,” Yeaman said on Friday. “As a result of that they damaged the water structure. For us to turn on that structure now, we can’t equalize the pressure, so we will need to replace the entire component.
“We are in the process, right now, of determining what the cost will be, but its definitely going to be in the thousands of dollars. We don’t know how much at this point but we are working with the manufacturers to track down the cost and how soon we can get that component replaced.”
The Kinsmen Park has no CCTV cameras installed, but the City is working on fixing that to ensure that such acts do not repeat themselves.
“Its sad that people vandalize,” Mayor Greg Dionne said. “So what we are going to do is that in all our parks and everywhere that we build now, we will be installing video surveillance so that if things like these happen in future we will track down the vandals.”
“We are almost out of the season,” Yeaman added. “We will not be opening that park now until the spring of 2025, so unfortunately this year, there will be no last efforts for kids to come out to enjoy the Sept long weekend. We had to fence it off and close it until Spring 2025.”
Members of the public are advised to ensure the safety of all public property. Yeaman said it’s sad to see the vandalism.
“Our young people should take pride in what has been built,” he said. “We want them to take ownership and be responsible individuals within the community.”
A report of the incident has been made to police and an investigation is ongoing.
