Vandals spray-paint playground near Yellowknife River Bridge

Vandals have spray-painted a children's playground near the Yellowknife River bridge causing thousands of dollars in damage.

The day use area of the Yellowknife River Territorial Park is a popular weekend destination for picnics, fishing, and boating. The park is about eight kilometres north of Yellowknife.

Kris Johnson, a regional superintendent with the N.W.T.'s Department of Industry, Tourism, and Investment, said the vandalism happened sometime last week.

"Just about every surface… had been spray-painted," Johnson said.

"Everything from the garbage cans, to the rocks, barriers, to the playground equipment and picnic tables."

"This is disappointing for us because we put a lot of time and effort into maintaining these parks so everybody can enjoy them... and now they're having to sit amongst a bunch of graffiti and vandalism."

Johnson said the department does not know who vandalized the park, but "Grad 2017" and some names are spray-painted on a number of pieces of equipment.

"We are guessing it could be some of the grads, but we are not too sure," she said.

Johnson is hoping to have the site cleaned up within a couple of weeks. She said it is important to remove the graffiti quickly so it does not encourage more vandalism.

"We get hundreds of visitors to that park every summer and throughout the fall. It's embarrassing for our community," Johnson said.

The RCMP are investigating the incident.