SUDBURY -- Easter is just around the corner and a popular place for many to visit and mark the holiday is the Grotto of Our Lady Lourdes in Sudbury.
It's a religious landmark in Sudbury dating back to 1907. There are several bronze statues depicting the Stations of the Cross.
"We made the site so it's interfaith, with the Alpha Omega symbol and the United Church who helped with the labyrinth," said David Sirois of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
"So anyone can come here. It's meant to be a calm oasis in the middle of downtown Sudbury for people to come and think and just reflect on different things."
The Grotto is a special place for many.
Sacred space
"This particular site is a very sacred space to our community, not just in the history of it but in terms of the gathering here, people come here to pray, to reflect to mediate," said Gerry Lougheed, one of several business owners offering a reward in the case.
Last spring, a vandal damaged eight statues and many monuments were beheaded. Sirois said it will be a tough case to solve.
"If they decide to melt the material and resell it to a junkyard or whatever, it will be harder to trace," he said. "So it's going to be hard to trace those cut parts, or even if we do find them, to even put them back on the statues."
Last spring, Lougheed's Funeral Home put up a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. That amount has since grown.
"After we did that, Glenn Sanberg, Victor Vere and Barry Poulson and Michael Toppazzini also said that they would contribute to it, so as it stands now there will be a $4,500 reward," said Lougheed.
A sculptor based in southern Ontario is moulding eight new bronze statues to replace the damaged ones. They are expected to be erected next spring.
