Another discouraging and disheartening vandalism incident has led to the closure of a Christmas lights display in Trenton.

The Doug Whitney Christmas Fantasy lighting display in Fraser Park was tampered with at some point late Tuesday night, leading to extensive damage in the neighbourhood of $2,000.

The damage affected mostly strings of lights and other features that will affect the safety of the entire display.

This was not the first time this holiday season that vandals hit the display, as people threw a group of lights strung on the fence line into the river not long after it was turned on it November, but police were able to catch the people that committed the acts.

“There was a Go Fund Me (created) and a lot of people stepped up with some monetary donations,” lights display volunteer group member Bob Mitts said.

“(Volunteer groups) were able to go and buy some lights to replace what was damaged, but as recently as last night, the vandals struck again. This time, they did quite a bit of damage to the point where they said, ‘we're going to pull the plug on the display.’ They just didn't want to risk any more damage being done.”

Mitts said he hasn’t seen or heard of many vandalism issues in years past, so this year is unprecedented for incidents of this nature.

“These kids are going in, they grab onto a string of lights, they pull and next thing you know, every light on the tree is gone. It doesn't take them very long to do that. That will need to be addressed.”

A number of security cameras are set up in the vicinity of the downtown, including in intersections and outside city hall, but Mitts said he wasn’t certain if any of them were pointed at the park.

“With the security, I don't know what the schedule was, it was contracted out,” he explained.

“Sometimes it was Ross Livingston, one of the volunteers himself that would sit for hours in a hut and keep an eye on things, but he can't catch everything. It’s a fairly big park and if you're at one end of it, things could happen at the other end, in a dark part of the park hidden by trees, you can rifle off a few sets of lights and not be seen.”

“We’re saddened by the senseless destruction of a beautiful holiday display,” Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison lamented in a statement.

“Volunteers spend hundreds of hours creating a fantastic display, adding improvements every year for the public to enjoy, and multiple acts of vandalism by a few individuals has ruined it for everyone.”

In a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, Harrison said they will try to maintain the lighting area around the Compass Court Park adjacent to the bridge and keep it functioning for a few more days.

“The volunteers, along with city staff, work hard each year to make sure our city exemplifies love, kindness and beauty, particularly during the festive holiday season,” Harrison stated. “We are all very sad.”

The Trenton Fantasy of Lights was a passion project of a group of dedicated volunteers led by Ross Livingstone and Paul Coveney that first was established in 2002, helped by community donations for items to include in the display.

The display is usually up until the end of the first week of January. Mitts said the group will be at Fraser Park early Thursday morning to take down the items and put it back in storage.

He said it will be difficult to find a firm solution to mitigate the vandalism next year and beyond that doesn’t compromise the clear viewing of the display for onlookers.

“You want to make it accessible for people to go and take a look at it, so putting up larger fencing to keep people out is certainly not an option. We want people to be able to still walk through the park, but I think maybe “we could use) more presence, certainly at night.”

Officers with Quinte West OPP and city staff members are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the vandalism and anyone who may have information can contact police or Crime Stoppers.

People in the Quinte area can still take an opportunity to visit the Frankford Christmas Fantasy display, which remains in place until Jan. 3, 2022, in the Frankford Tourist Park.