Officials with New Orleans City Park say someone broke in to Storyland and the Carousel Garden Amusement Park and vandalized the more than 100-year-old carousel.
Park officials say sometime early Sunday morning, a vandal or vandals allegedly smashed windows, ripped tails of the carousel horses and scribbled sexual and racially-charged graffiti all over the antique amusement ride, which is on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.
This is the second time the amusement park was vandalized in the past week according to a City Park spokesperson.
After the first vandalism, the park installed security cameras which officials believe may have captured the alleged suspects.
“This hurts my heart. The Carousel and Storyland are such traditional iconic parts of the Park. The Carousel is over 100 years old. To have them survive Katrina only to then be disrespected in this way is a true travesty. The people of New Orleans love City Park and we’re so grateful to them. It’s sad to see a few people destroy so much,” says Bob Becker, City Park CEO.
Park officials say among the damage, the names ‘Alex’ and ‘Justin A’ were written on the amusement ride. They also say there were shoe prints found on the carousel doors where the doors were kicked-in.
City Park is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact City Park Chief Operations Officer, Rob DeViney at 504-419-2832 immediately.