BUCKHANNON – The public restrooms by the pavilions at the Upshur County Recreational Park have been reopened after a closure due to vandalism.

Upshur County Park and Recreation Director Jeremiah McCourt made a Facebook post Oct. 21 announcing the closure of the bathrooms.

“It’s the pavilion bathroom up at the park, and we had a little issue with some vandalism and let everyone know about it,” McCourt told My Buckhannon Tuesday. “It was two juveniles, but they’ve been identified and taken care of.”

The bathrooms were reopened Oct. 25, but they will be closed again soon so staff can prepare the park for the winter months.

“The weekend of Nov. 5 is going to be our last weekend they’re going to be open and then we’re going to winterize the park so they will be closed,” McCourt said. “October 30 is usually the last day the pavilions are available to rent and then after that, if it’s just a nice day, you can come out until May 1 – that’s when we start getting them out for rentals.”

The vandalism was not major, but the two individuals tore a couple of items off the wall and put paper towels in the toilet.

“We have time locks, and it was during the time they were open anyway,” McCourt said. “It’s not like the security system failed or anything; these kids were in one of the bathrooms that were open anyway and they went in and tore some stuff up. I had to get the deputies out there and show them what happened. We have some cameras that are placed throughout the park and at the pool. I was at the pool when it was happening, and I got a notification on one of the cameras and I just happened to check it out.”

The bathrooms were previously open for the park’s first trunk-or-treat event, which McCourt said went well.

“I would say well over 300 people came down and we had 15-20 cars for handing out candy and a bounce house,” McCourt said. “It was pretty cool; we’re planning on expanding that event next year with some more activities like a haunted trail walk.”