After months of careful restoration, the work of a group of volunteers reviving the Peachland Historic Mural has been ruined.
The mural was back at its former glory for just two weeks when vandals struck.
Numerous doodles of stick figures, hearts and seemingly random circles and scribbles now cover the face of the historic mural. The logo of the Peachland Rotary Club, which commissioned the work over 20 years ago was also painted over.
“My father and several wonderful volunteers have spent months, free of charge, slaving over this beautiful local mural. Restoring it to its original quality,” said Erin Moore in a post on the Facebook group Peachland Neighbours.
“And it took one night and a terrible human to destroy all that work.”
Numerous comments were made on the post calling the act “despicable, shameful and disgusting.”
Deborah Livingstone, president of the Peachland Arts Council, said 172 hours were put in collectively by six volunteers to fix up the mural.
She said the worst part is that they won’t likely be able to fix it until the weather turns around in the spring.
Gary Hedge, president of the Peachland Community Police, said while they’ve been looking for a way to find the vandals, nothing has come up yet.
“We’ve canvassed all the buildings in the area looking for exterior cameras, but unfortunately, none of them have exterior cameras,” he said.
“The defacement is quite extensive. They took their time.”
Hedge said he’s hopeful somebody in the community will reach out to the Community Police if they hear something.
“Usually the people who do this kind of thing are not smart and they want to brag to somebody,” he said.
According to destinationpeachland.com, the Peachland Historic Mural is painted on a retaining wall where bedrock once extended into the lake.
The mural was painted by Peachland artist Robyn Lake. It features Hardy Falls, the wharf, Walter’s Packinghouse and various scenes of downtown Peachland.
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