“The metal is something that’s attractive for people that regularly take things to the scrap yard,” she said. “So that’s something we really have to think about if we put this up again.”
Cinderella was added to Veteran’s Park last October, to compliment the pumpkin carriage that has been in the park since the 1960s, according to history from the parks district.
A grant from the Wilson-Sheehan Foundation paid for the Cinderella statue and for a carousel horse that was also added to the pumpkin carriage, Castillo said. The grant also paid for Project Jericho and youth from the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center to restore and repaint the carriage.
“It does get very discouraging knowing that every time we do something great, something happens and we have to take a step back,” Castillo said. “But this isn’t going to stop us. We’re still going to keep improving our parks and making them a great place for the community to enjoy.”
Dana Ropp of Springfield said her children were going to be “heartbroken” when she told them the Cinderella statue was missing. She had plans to take her 4-year-old daughter to the Cinderella statue and pumpkin carriage for pictures when the weather turned warmer.
“So many kids love Cinderella and the story of Cinderella and everything,” Ropp said. “They love going down there and playing around it. My daughter was so looking forward to that this summer.”
Vandalism is something the parks department fights daily, Castillo said.
On Monday morning, workers discovered an illegal trash dump in Snyder Park and had to remove an old recliner, a TV, plywood and a hot tub from the side of the roadway inside the park, she said.
In October, a man was arrested for destroying the flag football fields when he drove his vehicle drunk on the grass. And Springfield Police Division and the parks district are still investigating a group of people with ATVs who are riding through Rebert Pike Nature Park and destroying the landscape there, according to police reports.
It is difficult to put surveillance cameras in all the parks because it is costly, and if discovered, the cameras often get stolen, Castillo said.
“This isn’t a problem in just our parks, it’s a problem in our community,” Castillo said.
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