The District of Elkford is expressing frustration and disappointment this morning after vandals trashed the under-construction dirt jump/bike park.

“Well, we’d planned to share the exciting news and a few photos of Jason Meldrum and the Elkford Biking Club performing the groundbreaking for Elkford’s highly anticipated new dirt jump/bike park today. Instead, we are sharing photos of vandalism around the brand-new construction area,” the district stated on social media.

“Yes, you read that right: it’s day one and there is already vandalism to address.

“The Elkford Biking Club is a volunteer-run organization. Over the last two years, these dedicated volunteers spent countless hours of their own personal time working to bringing a dirt jump park to Elkford all to enjoy, and our community rallied together—with dozens of local individuals, businesses and stakeholders contributing funds, time, resources and equipment—to help them make this dream a reality for our youth (and the young at heart),” the district pointed out.

“Every dollar that was raised is accounted by the cost of constructing this park, and now some of those precious dollars are being allocated to repairing damage caused by senseless vandalism.

“Seriously, folks, the vandalism needs to stop. In the past couple of years, we have received numerous reports of vandalism to our playgrounds and Devonian concession, some with damage totalling thousands of dollars. Whether or not these incidents are related, we’re asking for the community’s cooperation and assistance in putting a stop to this for good,” the district said.

‘Respectfully, we are asking parents to have a serious conversation with your kids—especially if you know they were downtown last night. Residents, take a good hard look at what it means to live in a small town like Elkford, where everyone knows their neighbours and shares a sense of pride in belonging to a community where people help each other. And visitors, please ask yourselves if you’d choose to behave like this in your own hometown.

“If you were involved in the vandalism at the bike park construction site, we hope that you’ll see this message and feel deeply ashamed for your actions. It’s not too late to step forward and take responsibility; but if you refuse to do so, at least take this message to heart and stop wrecking things for others,” the district asked.

If you have any information about the vandalism at the bike park construction site last night, contact 250-865-4017 or email [email protected].

District of Elkford photo

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