You know fall has arrived in downtown Gainesville when the scarecrows - or SQUAREcrows - are displayed around the square. From time to time, the displays will get damaged by the weather or maybe an overly enthusiastic toddler, but over the weekend, one of the displays for this year's contest was destroyed by vandals, much to the dismay of the non-profit group that created it.
Marianne Thomas, the founder of Aim 2 Be3, a non-profit for young adults in the special needs community, said group members put a great deal of time and effort into their entry for the Squarecrows 2021 Contest.
"We talked with our participants - who we refer to as our friends - about some possible themes, and we have so many Bulldog lovers that we decided we would support the Dawgs," Thomas said. "We put together a UGA scarecrow...and we had dog toys and dog food and we just wanted to incorporate our love for the Bulldogs and bring that to the square,"
Thomas said group members set up the display themselves, and part of their daily routine has included stopping by the square each day to make sure their squarecrow was still in good shape - especially since there was so much rain earlier in the month. She said each time they went, they noticed something was missing from the display. Each time, the group members would take the time and go to the expense of replacing the missing items or repairing the damage.
"It wasn't until yesterday that we went out and discovered that all our pumpkins had been smashed," Thomas said. "They had completely disassembled our scarecrow, they stole jerseys, they took his legs off...they had completely taken apart our scarecrow with nothing left."
Thomas said the group members were hurt and confused.
"Unfortunately, a lot of them did feel like it was an attack against them and their population, but we reassured them it had absolutely nothing to do with them," Thomas said. "We were doing a kind of tongue-in-cheek football rivalry [display]. Our Uga was holding an alligator over a grill, so we told them this was just all in good fun, and it was just a great activity to be part of...so we said it was just more having to do with football and nothing to do with them."
Christina Santee, Public Relations Manager for the City of Gainesville, said unfortunately, this is not the first time the annual displays have been damaged at the hands of vandals.
"Unfortunately, vandalism is something we warn participants about before they design/arrange their displays, though we hope and pray it never happens," Santee said. "The City of Gainesville, specifically Main Street Gainesville in this instance, works diligently throughout the year to bring the community various holiday-related activities and events individuals, couples and families can enjoy close to home. It's heartbreaking and dispiriting to know there will always be that small percentage of people whose definition of 'fun' is stealing joy from others."
Santee said vandals have tinkered with a number of the displays set up for the 2021 contest, including one set up by a group of city employees.
"We've also noticed props missing from [some] displays, like the clown head belonging to that of Gainesville Public Works' display," Santee said.
Santee agreed with Thomas about the motive behind the vandalism, saying Aim 2 Be3 was not a specific target.
"We suspect Aim 2 Be3's theme, which featured a collegiate football team, may have rubbed a competitor fan the wrong way - a miserable excuse to deface someone's property," Santee said.
Lt. Kevin Holbrook with the Gainesville Police Department, who oversees the Community Relations Division, said his officers in the Downtown Unit have not investigated any major vandalism incidents in the area, but there have been some minor incidents downtown.
"We've been able to utilize the [downtown] camera systems to identify and locate the [responsible] individuals and that's what we hope to do with this case," Holbrook said.
He acknowledged that the incident was not a major crime, but he said big or small, GPD wants to curb as much criminal activity as possible.
"Many times these individuals come in and they think they're doing some small pranks, and this is one of those cases where they probably considered it a prank, but it's an act of vandalism," Holbrook said. "They probably didn't take into account that these individuals spent a lot of time, effort and money on this display."
Holbrook also said the officers rely on the eyes and ears of the community when it comes down to stopping crime and making the city safer.
"Please always report it [crime] no matter what," Holbrook said. "It allows us to know what's going on in our community...to let us know what areas we need to be policing more. No matter how small, we want to take care of it."
Santee reiterated Holbrook's comments.
"We encourage those with any information regarding the recent acts of vandalism on the square to please turn the information over to the Gainesville Police Department at your earliest convenience. You can do so anonymously, and help us preserve a fall-time tradition that brings both residents and visitors out to the square and supporting our small businesses year after year," Santee said. "We'd hate for an unfortunate situation such as this to deter groups from participating in events like Squarecrows on the Square."
As for Aim 2 Be3's display, Marianne Thomas said the group members removed what was left. She said there's not enough time to create another one, and they're hoping the other squarecrows will go untouched for the remainder of the contest period. The 2021 contest wraps up on Halloween.
