Skate park in Fort Smith, N.W.T., closed due to vandalism — days after volunteers helped reopen it

The skate park in Fort Smith, N.W.T., will now likely be closed until spring, after it was vandalized last month.

The recent closure came just days after the park had reopened in August, following a four-year closure and some repair and restoration work done by community volunteers.

Less than two weeks after the recent reopening, boards were ripped off some of the park equipment. Nobody has been charged in connection with the vandalism. 

Town officials now say repairs will not be completed until next year because of staffing shortages, and the need to install security cameras at the skate park.  

The closure has left many in the community disappointed, including the volunteers who spent time, money, and resources to restore the aging skate park.

Colucci said that the vandalism damage is not extreme, but is considered a safety hazard. The town wants to fix it but staff are currently busy preparing for winter operations, which takes priority over the skate park repairs.

"Our staff have been pulled pretty heavily into arena operations, so that's our focus right now," Colucci said.

"I know nobody's going to be happy to hear that, but that's kind of the nature of it when we're trying to do a lot with a small staff."

Colucci said the restoration work done earlier at the park by volunteers is appreciated. She said the vandalism "isn't great for morale."

"I think this one hurt even more because it was the town, the community, did this, the folks who cared so much that they put their own time into it, their own money, their own efforts — and they were proud of the work that they did," she said.

Volunteers and councillors frustrated

The closure of the park has left volunteers and town councillors frustrated. At a recent town hall meeting, Coun. Kevin Campbell expressed his disappointment at the delays, especially given the community's involvement in repairing the park.

"The community that renovated and got the park back up and running is disappointed in all of us. We're not getting that repaired fast enough," he said.

"We should be fixing that and getting it back in operation ASAP, tomorrow morning, just to make it work."

The town's senior administrative officer, Tracey Thomas, told that meeting that it wasn't that simple. She said the town needs to put security measures in place to prevent more damage in the future. 

"The priority was to get eyes on it so that it wouldn't happen again. Otherwise we would keep repairing it and it would get broken again and again. So we wanted to get the security cameras in," Thomas said. 

Thomas said cameras will be installed at the park when staff are available to do the work. 

Colucci hopes the security cameras act as a deterrent against more vandalism. She also hopes the recent damage doesn't take away from all the hard work and effort that was put into reopening the park in the summer.

"I hope someone's listening and realizes that this wasn't a good choice. Better choices can be made next time, and hopefully, people will stop damaging public spaces that are meant for everyone to enjoy," Colucci said.