It happened in a park in Dresden, Ont., a community of about 2,400 in Chatham-Kent. The table was one of several, with various themes, that volunteer artists assembled and painted through the community organization Dresden Shines earlier this summer. Morena McDonald, who created the original table design and worked on updates alongside artist Sarah Steele, said the video was shared on the Dresden Night Market TikTok to respond to the incident in a positive way. “I just wanted to show us that by just changing the conversation or changing the message that happened at the table,” McDonald said. The story, however, did not end with what is seen in the video. “The Chatham-Kent Police Service is investigating this crime as a hate-motivated incident due to the nature of the messages,” the police service said. (Sarah Steele) This week, some of the picnic tables were vandalized for a second time. Images shared with CBC News show anti-LGBTQ messages, including threats, scrawled on the paintings. In a surveillance video posted on TikTok, one of the paintings was shown with extensive damage to its surface. Since then, the group has repaired the latest damage in an effort to “fight the ugly with the beautiful, fight the hate with love,” Steele said. “Instead of really dwelling on the bad words that were left behind, we stick to the idea that it’s a small, small, small population of people that unfortunately exists, and we just have to keep proving to them that we’re not going. to respond with anger,” Steele said. “We’re just going to respond with more love and hopefully, as long as it takes, this will win out in the end.” A heavily damaged picnic table in the park has been painted all black and we hope to get the community to contribute art and share their own messages.
Police are looking for surveillance footage
Chatham-Kent Police are investigating the vandalism. In a media release on Tuesday, the police service said that sometime between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Monday, several picnic tables in Stranak Park were defaced with red permanent marker. “The Chatham-Kent Police Service is investigating this crime as a hate-motivated incident due to the nature of the messages,” the police service said. They are asking the public to check surveillance cameras for footage that could be evidence of the incident. McDonald and Steele said they plan to post another update to the TikTok page soon.
