TRAVERSE CITY -- A local law firm hoped to give the community a gift that would last all winter when it commissioned a festive ice sculpture.
The gift lasted less than three days.
Someone destroyed an ornate sculpture of two children riding a toboggan in front of Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge's 202 E. State St. offices on Sunday, said Robert Tubbs, a partner at the firm.
Traverse City artist Steven Berkshire completed work on the sculpture Friday. The firm hired him to create something cheerful for the community to view, Tubbs said.
"The bottom line is we tried to do something nice for the holidays ... obviously it was disappointing someone decided to do that," Tubbs said.
Firm employees last saw the sculpture standing on Sunday morning, and one saw it smashed by 2 p.m. that day, Tubbs said. He wasn't sure if a police report had been filed, and police did not return a call seeking comment.
The firm was looking forward to having the sculpture up until the end of winter.
"It would have lasted as long as the weather was going to last," Tubbs said.
Berkshire was unaware his sculpture was destroyed when contacted by a Record-Eagle reporter, and he was upset with the news.
"It's unfortunate for our community that something like that would happen," he said, adding he's never had one of his sculptures destroyed by vandals.
About 28 hours of work went into the sculpture, Berkshire said.
