It’s a family favourite on the edge of Calgary, but owners of Cobb’s Adventure Park are feeling anything but amused as they prepare to open for the season.
“We wanted to vomit. It’s heartbreaking. There’s a lot of damage in here,” said Mike Sheppard, who owns the park with his wife Maureen Sheppard.
The adventure park was hit by vandals causing tens of thousands of dollars in damages. A winter storage tent is littered with shards of glass after windows were smashed out of antique cars and a new tractor.
“This is a tractor we bought brand new two years ago. We are still paying for it, and they smashed every glass inside of it,” said Mike.
“They crushed in this roof, jumped on the back … I’ve been in (the automotive industry) it will probably cost $20,000 to repair.
“It makes me want to cry. It’s tough, really tough, to think people want to do this. My wife and I love this place. We’ve never taken salaries from it. The park doesn’t make enough to take salaries.”
Mike and Maureen said they filed a police report; the RCMP said in an emailed statement to Global News that there were no suspects, no evidence and no surveillance so the file concluded.
Mounties are encouraging home and business owners to install motion lights and surveillance cameras to protect their properties. Cobb’s Adventure Park has both in some areas of the property but unfortunately not near the storage tent. The owners are now trying to ramp up its security system but it’s not a cheap task.
“It’s going to be hard, we are probably going to have to take a personal loan to pay for this damage and it will probably affect the amount of staff we are able to afford,” said Maureen.
“It would be nice if the police were able to do something about it … They could come and take fingerprints. It’s frustrating.”
The animals who call the farm home were not impacted. But the Sheppards are still afraid of what the future might hold. They are planning to open May long weekend, but it might have to be without the crowd favourite for now.