The heart’s gone from the Love Barrie landmark sign.
City staff say the base of the Heritage Park heart portion of the sign was cracked, its face broken in multiple locations and the framing holding it in place was also damaged.
“It might be shocking to some that we have this type of immaturity and violence acting in our downtown,” said former Barrie councillor Mike McCann, who served from 2014 until 2022, and who raised the $200,000 needed to design and construct the sign.
“Why misguided vandals would bring something so ugly to a beautiful art piece is just wrong,” he added. “Let’s just make sure we give the police the proper resources to make sure it never happens again.”
The heart portion of the sign has been removed and its manufacturer is repairing it, according to city staff.
It’s anticipated the landmark sign’s heart portion will be returned to the site next week.
McCann has said this sign is intended to unite Barrie — to help businesses by driving residents and visitors to the downtown and have them celebrate the city by being photographed with the landmark sign.
“The Love Barrie sign is a huge success, bigger than most anticipated,” he said. “The Love Barrie sign has brought much happiness and business to the downtown.”
As for the damage, elements of the sign deemed deficiencies will be covered by the manufacturer, but those deemed a result of vandalism will be paid for by the city, from the maintenance budget for the sign.
City council added $15,000 to the city’s operations department budget, beginning this year, to cover costs of potential graffiti removal and winter maintenance on and around the sign.
McCann said this damage gives the city the ability to build a stronger, better structure for the Love Barrie sign to show this is a loving, caring city.
“My message to these vandals — love more, hate less.”
This is the second time the sign has been damaged. Overnight Sept. 18-19, the sign was defaced with the words and symbols “Dirty $” and “CLEAN HANDS”, with a circled X and the words “BUT LIES” on the nearby concrete pavement.
The sign is located in Heritage Park, directly on the entry axis to the downtown waterfront park, as pedestrians cross Simcoe Street from Meridian Place.