This Kansas city decorated a buffalo sculpture for Christmas, but it didn’t last long

A stone buffalo located in the prairie grass of Lawrence, Kansas has been the source of holiday spirit for years.

In October, neighbors near the sculpture dressed the buffalo as a ghost, and for Christmas, they give it a wreath, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.

But this year, the holiday spirit left almost as quickly as it arrived.

The buffalo began wearing the annual Christmas wreath around its neck starting on Nov. 24, but by the next morning the sculpture had been sprayed with graffiti that spells “LK Kings” and “LKK.”

“The Buffalo was vandalized with silver spray paint and some kind of cryptic symbols in the last day or so by someone who doesn’t share our holiday cheer,” Alison Bodyston posted in the public Facebook group, Live Love Local Lawrence.

The wreath, which is reused each year, was left untouched, but the neighbors decided to remove it.

“It was discussed about leaving them up, but the decorations have sentimental value and have been recycled adding a piece each year. Ironically, a sign with the word ‘PEACE’ was added this year,” Boydston wrote. “To make it easy on the city and to prevent loss or damage to decorations, they have been removed and will be put back up after cleaning.”

Porter Arneill, Lawrence director of arts and culture, told the Journal-World that the city needs to assess how they will remove the silver graffiti.

“If it is spray paint, that can be problematic on stone because it can actually seep into the stone itself,” Arneill said.

The Journal-World reported that a report was filed with the Lawrence Police Department on Nov. 25.

“Hopefully it can be cleaned by the city soon and the holiday cheer can return to The Buffalo,” Bodyston wrote. “This will never stop the bandits!!! Festive Cheer and goodwill will prevail.”

The buffalo sculpture was part of the 1988 Kansas Sculpture Association Stone Symposium, according to Journal-World, which was designed to promote the use of Kansas limestone and an interest in sculptures.

This story was originally published November 28, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "This Kansas city decorated a buffalo sculpture for Christmas, but it didn’t last long."