WEST FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – A company has been hired to haul away ice that was formed after vandals flooded Bonanzaville with more than 200,000 gallons of water.
Earthworks Services has been working to break up sheets of ice three to four inches thick.
“This is a lot more ice than I’ve ever encountered. Pretty unfortunate someone would be willing to do this,” Nathan Volk, an operator with Earthworks Services, said.
They’re volunteering their services and say it’s meaningful because they have a connection to the Cass County Historical Society.
“I’ve been here a few times when I was younger so to be able to help a place I’m familiar with feels good,” Volk said.
“The community has been absolutely amazing. Everybody’s reaching out and we love, love, love this community,” Missy Warren, special events coordinator at Bonanzaville, said.
Contractors are breaking up the ice with the skid steer and putting it into the loader, and they’re taking it to the parking lot and letting it melt.
They say it’s taken about a dozen trips on the loader to haul everything out.
“It was kind of learn-as you-go type of thing, I kind of had a general strategy of what I needed to do, but you can’t really plan for something like this, you just got to make the best of the situation,” Volk said.
Bonanzaville staff say they can’t estimate the extent of the damage until everything thaws in the spring.
“We cannot thank everyone who has donated monetarily, offered volunteer hours, we can’t thank you enough. We need the community to rally behind us. We don’t have the staff to be able to do this ourselves,” Warren said.
“It means a lot to the community and if we can do our part to make a difference, that’s what we’re here to do,” Volk said.
Bonanzaville says they are still responsible for paying the water bill.
While their GoFundMe page has exceeded their fundraising goal, they are still accepting donations online and through an account with Bell State Bank in West Fargo.
