For the second time in the last 10 years, an Irricana landmark has been damaged.
Old Smoky, the steel, powder-coat finished horse statue situated on main street, was damaged, its moorings twisted, in what appears to be an act of vandalism on the evening of Nov. 10.
Irricana public works employee Rob Friesen was alerted to the damaged statue on Nov. 11.
Once on scene, he found Old Smoky knocked over and ripped out of its concrete anchoring.
“It is disappointing because it was the second time it has been vandalized,” said Friesen, “I helped put it up, now we are questioning if we should put it back, because this might happen again.”
Friesen said he contacted the local RCMP detachment regarding the incident.
He suspects malicious vandalism, as the statue was anchored into a poured concrete base underneath interlocking paving stones.
“It would have taken quite a force,” he said. “It falling over doesn’t jive with me. You can see (on the horse) where they were pushing. You could see that it was vandalized.”
Melvin Brown, an avid horseman from the area that frequented Irricana’s old hotel, donated Old Smoky to the town in 1991.
Wanting to leave a legacy, Brown commissioned artist Kevan Leycraft to build the seven-foot tall statue.
Deputy Mayor Andrew Carr said he is disappointed the statue was damaged.
“It is sad to see vandalism on main street,” he said. “It is a great landmark, it is a great story.”
According to Carr, it appears someone drove a vehicle against the statue, spun their tires and pushed it over denting the legs, tearing off one of the base plate stands and creating various cracks where the legs met the body. He is imploring anyone with any information to come forward.
“I would like to raise awareness,” he said. “(I hope) we can find the people who did damage to it. This is the second time this sort of damage has occurred and we’re going to be looking at ways to prevent vehicles from doing this sort of damage.”
If you have any information, call 403-935-4672.
