By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
On Sunday afternoon, Salina Downtown Inc. shared a Facebook post informing the community that a suspect vandalized one of the downtown Christmas trees.
Salina Downtown Inc. places small, plastic Christmas trees in planter pots along Santa Fe Avenue for the holidays, bringing holiday spirit to downtown businesses and visitors.
Around 1 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 25, a suspect tore one of the plastic trees from its pot in front of Big Nose Kate's, a downtown bar, and took it to his car.
"We've gotten several stolen," said Salina Downtown Inc. Executive Director Leslie Bishop. "We don't have any on the 200 North block anymore because most of them were stolen the first year we put them out."
Salina Downtown began placing the Christmas trees along Santa Fe three years ago, and according to Bishop, downtown visitors have vandalized the trees each year.
SPD Sergeant Kyle Tonniges said Salina Downtown reported the incident to the department on Monday, Nov. 27, with video evidence from a downtown business near Big Nose Kate's.
"They had got some information on a possible suspect, so it looks like we're following up with that," Tonniges said.
SPD has not made any arrests at this time.
Salina Post will update this story as more information becomes available.