EVANSVILLE, In. (WEHT)- Mickey’s Kingdom has become a staple of the Evansville riverfront.
Now, many who use the playground are concerned, following recent cases of vandalism.
What should be a safe and fun public place, now has parents questioning what kinds of drawings or words their children may see that shouldn’t be there.
Mickey’s Kingdom posted on Facebook on Monday night, showing they are aware of graffiti on a few of the slides on the playground. Parents and other citizens filled the comment section, expressing concern for the vandalism. Matthew Bauer, a parent, told us “I’ve seen several things around the park… words and body parts, I’ll put it that way. It just has the kids asking questions that they probably shouldn’t be asking yet”.
It didn’t take long for one local business owner to step in to try to make things right. Blaine Lynch, the owner of Mr. Sudsy Mobile Wash, says “I know that for families and kids, this is important for them to have a place to go. So when someone comes in and ransacks it, I’d like to try to clean it up and make it nice”.
Some officials have said that the security cameras are supposed to help deter this sort of activity, but it hasn’t seemed to stop them yet. What seems to be a constant flow of graffiti, is causing frustration for members of the community. Lynch says, “I truthfully and genuinely care so much about what we have here, because there’s a lot of places that don’t get this stuff. So then when we get it and don’t take care of it, it’s frustrating”.
Kids like Oliver Bauer want to send the community a message. He says, “everybody that comes to this park… don’t draw or do anything to this beautiful park… if you do, it’s bad”.
Due to a shortage of necessary supplies, Mr. Sudsy’s crew say they will be back on Friday to finish the cleanup.
