NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A popular fountain at the Norfolk Botanical Garden is now marred with blue streaks and employees are working to figure out if it’s permanent.
Someone poured dye into the fountain last week, according to Les Parks, who is the garden’s director of horticulture.
He says employees had noticed the fountain’s water was blue, but they didn’t realize the fountain itself was also stained until an issue with a pump caused them to shut it off.
“I’m disappointed,” said Parks, adding that the tiles for the fountain were just replaced over the winter and now are also stained blue.
“We don’t know if it was for a prank because they wanted to see a different color or if they wanted it for a gender reveal party because the dye is blue,” he said.
Parks wants people to know that if they need help for special occasions, they should ask.
“We want to be a part of people’s celebrations whether it’s a wedding, an engagement, or a gender reveal, graduation. We’re here and we have people to assist with that,” he said.
The mishap has put a slight damper on some special occasions.
“We had to relocate two or three weddings that were booked for this garden. We had to relocate them to another place in the garden and luckily the bride and groom were fine with that,” he said.
Parks is not sure how much it will cost to clean and possibly replace what was damaged, but it could be a cost that the nonprofit doesn’t need in 2020.
They’re asking for donations and urging whoever did this to not try it again.
