Cold Lake, AB – The City and Cold Lake RCMP are investigating after Kinosoo Beach and the surrounding recreation area was the target of significant graffiti vandalism in the early morning of Friday, August 12. Vandals used spray paint to damage several areas including the concession stand, utility boxes, a water treatment building, the zip line platform, park signage, seating areas and the concrete retaining wall.

“It really is disappointing and deflating to see such a lack of respect for our community, our amenities and our City staff who work so hard to keep the beach in such pristine condition all summer long,” said Mayor Craig Copeland. “Kinosoo Beach is the crown jewel of our city, and our staff and contractors worked full out to have the new phase 3 enhancements open and ready to go for Canada Day. Here we are not even six weeks later, in the middle of our busy summer tourism season, and now our staff are going to spend hours and thousands of dollars cleaning up this careless mess.”

City staff have begun removing the graffiti but it’s expected some infrastructure such as park signage, will need to be replaced entirely.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with this type of senseless vandalism. The same thing happened last spring at Imperial Park, and then again last fall at the Energy Centre,” said Copeland. “We’re proud of the infrastructure that Council is able to fund and we want our residents and visitors to be able to take advantage of it. We do have surveillance cameras at Kinosoo Beach, so hopefully we’re able to track down those responsible”.

The City is asking the public and visitors to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to police. Anyone with information about this or any other crime in the community should call the Cold Lake RCMP non-emergency line at 780-594-3302. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers at crimestoppers.ab.ca or 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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Photos of the vandalism are below: