Volunteers of the Alder Grove Heritage Society were surprised to arrive at the telephone museum to open for Sunday, Nov. 17, and find a graffiti tag beside the front door.
Tami Quiring, president of AGHS, told The Star that this isn't the first time.
"We regularly get tagged. There's one on the south wall from a few weeks ago," she said.
The practice of "tagging" is a form of graffiti and acts as an artist's signature, and is often placed in a public space to attract attention.
Quiring said she is all for commissioned graffiti artwork, but doesn't agree with marking up buildings 鈥� especially heritage structures.
The society operates out of the telephone museum, which is in the 1910 BC Mills prefab building originally owned by F. J. Hart. The building has been a real estate office, bank, and a telephone office that operated from 1917 to 1951.
It was saved from demolition in 1992 by the AGHS, and moved to its current location where volunteers worked to restore the building.
Now as a museum, the building is home to , including an extensive collection on local families, businesses, and community groups' stories through newspaper clippings, audio recordings, photos, and more. It also hold a vintage telephone collection.
To remove the tag, Quiring says the society will have to pull from the artifact preservation budget to pay for paint, because the black lettering has already soaked into the yellow paint of the building.
"While we have many community groups working hard to improve our community, there will always be those who prefer to disparage the town rather than use their energy for the betterment of the area," she said.
The society's post was shared in online social media groups, where several Aldergrove residents said they recognized the tag on other spots in the neighbourhood such as park benches, a nearby mailbox, and even at Parkside Centennial Elementary.
This type of mischief often goes unreported, said Cpl. Craig Van Herk, spokesperson with the Langley RCMP.
"If anyone has had their property damaged, we ask that they contact police to report it," he added.
Langley RCMP can be reached at 604-532-3200.
