The bathrooms at the largest skatepark in the United States are closed indefinitely after “extreme” vandalism left them unusable.
Lauridsen Skatepark, which oversees the Des Moines River at 901 Second Ave., Des Moines, has seen regular vandalism since opening in 2021, but this time, damages expected to cost upwards of $10,000 have closed the bathrooms until further notice.
The vandalism occurred the evening of Monday, May 18, according to Jessica Lown, Polk County Conservation community outreach supervisor. “We lock the restrooms every evening, and we have staff that are checking them throughout their shifts. As far as anybody can tell or knows, they were in decent shape yesterday.”
The park’s bathrooms, which are open from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Sunday, are automatically locked after the park closes each night.
The damage, including damaged stall walls and shattered toilets in both restrooms, was “so extensive that if a person walked in, there would be nothing for them to do but stand and look shocked,” Lown said.
Polk County Conservation is working with law enforcement to investigate the vandalism. The skatepark has surveillance cameras that “hopefully will come in handy,” as police investigate, Lown said.
Lown said there’s “always a little bit of graffiti, but certainly not damage to this extent.” She said that since the skatepark opened in 2021, there have been at least two instances of vandalism that closed the park’s restrooms.
In 2023, the 88,000-square-foot skatepark closed its restrooms for a week for vandalism repairs of the sinks and toilets. The skatepark also reduced the bathroom’s hours after the incident left thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.
“It is always unsettling and very disappointing because there are a lot of people who pour a lot of time and effort and care into that park,” Lown said.
Portable toilets, which are usually set up in the winter months while the restrooms are closed, will be temporarily set up for use at the skatepark’s parking lot while repairs take place. The timeline for repairs is not yet known.
“We gotta figure out how quickly we can get materials to be replaced,” Lown said. “There’s just a lot of unknown factors.”
Kyle Werner is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: ‘Extreme’ vandalism closes bathrooms at Lauridsen Skatepark
Reporting by Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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