Green dye prank may cost park thousands to clean up

At the Myriad Gardens, workers and visitors are seeing green everywhere for St. Patrick's Day, but the new look may stick around for awhile, KFOR reported.

Early Monday morning, maintenance crews noticed that all of the ponds at the gardens are neon green.

Maureen Heffernan, the executive director of the Myriad Botanical Gardens, says this change was not done by officials with the gardens.

Instead, she believes it is a St. Patrick's Day prank that could have long-term consequences.

She said, "It sounds like a harmless prank but unfortunately, there's a lot of consequences to it in terms of cost and staff time to clean it up. We have to drain the water features and add new water, clean off all the stones to get the dye out of there."

Organizers say this prank could end up costing up to $10,000.

For this non-profit organization, that will be a huge hit.

Visitors strolling the paths of the gardens say they have seen green colored ducks in the water and worry about the other wildlife that may be affected.

Heffernan says she doesn't know what the make up of the dye is but shares the same concerns as the visitors.

She said, "We have turtles and fish and ducks and birds, so we certainly hope they're not affected."

The Myriad Gardens is feverishly working to clean up the prank.

Until then, Heffernan is taking a positive outlook on this St. Patrick's Day prank.

She said, "Folks can come down. It's a beautiful day, it's spring break for kids. Come down, see the green water, celebrate St. Patrick's Day."

Police and Myriad Garden officials said they would like to speak with you if you have any information about this St. Paddy's Day prank.