WORCESTER, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A massive art display in Worcester has been severely damaged by vandals, and some of the artwork is marred beyond repair.
The opening reception of Worcester's annual Art in the Park event took place Sunday afternoon, but it was overshadowed by what Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus called "disgusting" vandalism, an embarrassment for the city.
It was certainly not the way organizers hoped the season would begin.
Art in the park is an annual event that features large scale sculptures created by artists all over the country.
On Saturday, vandals damaged or destroyed six of the 30 or so sculptures that had been put out for display. Organizers believe it happened 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.
The sculptures are massive. They were toppled, broken, and some were tossed in Lincoln Pond, which runs through the center of Elm Park.
FOX25 spoke to Freedom Baird, a Cambridge artist who had two pieces of work damaged.
"I'm lucky, because my work is fixable, but some of the other work was damaged beyond repair, which is just so heartbreaking, when you think about the amount of time that the artists put into it, and the amount of time that the organizers put into organizing the show," Baird said.
Two pieces were damaged so badly that there is no way to salvage them.
Worcester police plan to add patrols in and around Elm Park, and security cameras will be placed in different areas of the park. Investigators are also looking to see if any private homes or businesses in the area have any surveillance footage that may have caught the vandals on camera.
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