Some sad news for WinterShines goers Saturday morning — several ice sculptures were destroyed by vandals overnight.

"People are still enjoying it," said Shad Ali, director of the Saskatoon festival. "They're disappointed. It's too bad. But they're happy to be able to enjoy the two that were left up. Folks are still taking photographs of them."

Ali said children were eager to play in the ice castle, see the animals at the petting zoo and hop on for a pony ride.

"I see kids are still coming down the slides and kids are still playing on the train, which to me is what this festival is all about — it's the spirit of the people."

Shad said the festival area could have been fenced off and protected, but that would have taken away from people enjoying the sculptures at night and in the morning.

"I had a woman say, 'I walk by this route every morning and I wanted to thank you for putting this in my path because I was able to stop here and really enjoy it.' She wouldn't have had that if we had fenced this off," he said.

Sunday is the last day of the WinterShines festival.