Vandals target Mary Street Community Garden
Vandals have targeted the Mary Street Community Garden on Tuesday night. An area resident spotted two boys climbing over the fence located at the intersection of Mary and Beatrice streets at around 10 p.m., who then proceeded to allegedly do considerable damage to the garden.
By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express
A community garden in Oshawa’s north end was devastated by an act of vandalism Tuesday night.
Maureen Whalen, coordinator of Mary Street Community Garden, says at around 10 p.m. on Sept. 17, an area resident spotted two boys climbing over the fence around the garden, located near the intersection of Mary and Beatrice streets.
It is alleged the boys then caused considerable damage to the garden.
Whalen says the witness called the police, but they arrived about five minutes after the alleged suspects had left the scene.
The damage to the garden is significant, Whalen adds.
“About 75 per cent of the garden has been [damaged],” she says.
The garden, established in 2010, is owned by the City of Oshawa, and run by community volunteers.
Whalen says there about 40 people who help out with the garden.
While there has been incidents at the garden before, it’s never been this bad.
“We feel very violated. It’s just heartbreaking,” Whalen says.
She says it’s going to take a lot of work and considerable time to restore the garden.
“Some things might be salvageable, but we are not sure,” she says.
According to the city’s website, the garden has 40 individual areas which includes six elevated garden beds, a children’s garden used by students of Queen Elizabeth Public School, and a bee and butterfly garden.
Whalen says anyone who make want to help in rebuilding the garden can contact marystreetcommunitygarden@gmail.com