NORTHAMPTON — A clown’s golf cart that was severely vandalized after being stolen from the Three County Fairgrounds in September is as good as new thanks to the enterprising work of a group of vocational students in Northampton.
The cart’s long-term prognosis didn’t look good in mid-September when police found it covered in debris in a Hadley meadow with more than $1,000 worth of damages.
The bright canary yellow cart that belongs to Michael Sklarski, a Melha Shriner clown known as “Beeper,” had been spray-painted black. A small scratch in the left rear of the cart revealed a yellow color underneath the black paint, police say. It was missing a roof and had newly attached lighting in the front. A screwdriver had been jammed in the ignition and a fuse was blown.
Just a few days after the golf cart was found, Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School offered to fix the damages.
“When I saw it all painted black, I was upset,” said Sklarski, 62, of Chicopee. “The school promised me it would look as good as new.”
Michael T. Cahillane, chairman of the board of trustees at the school, got to know Sklarski while working at the fair. He knows how important the golf cart is to Sklarski.
“When someone does that much volunteer work, I want to reach out,” Cahillane said.
Students spent almost two months working on the project. Now that it’s complete, Sklarski plans to pick up his recovered golf cart on Wednesday.
Sklarski has been clowning for 26 years and at the Three County Fair for a decade. But due to hip and back problems, he has trouble walking through fairs and during parades. So he could still participate in events, Sklarski said his daughter bought him a golf cart and he painted it yellow.
“I haven’t been clowning since the Three County Fair,” he said.
Now that the golf cart is recovered, Sklarski said he plans to participate in the Springfield Balloon Parade on Friday and the Florence Holiday Parade on Saturday.
On Sept. 2, Sklarski locked the cart in the arena building of the fairgrounds. The next morning it was gone.
According to police, the fairgrounds was monitored by Green Mountain Concert Services and only one security guard worked the overnight shift when the golf cart was stolen.
On Sept. 12, Northampton police reported that the golf cart had been recovered. According to police, the unnamed juvenile that stole the golf cart drove out of the arena building in Northampton to Hadley, getting stuck in a corn field.
Smith Voke took possession of the golf cart on Sept. 19 and students from various programs worked to restore it.
“It was a total mess,” Cahillane said.
But for Jesse Lapinski, the school’s auto collision repair teaching assistant, it was an easy job for his students.
“We took everything apart,” said Michael Brooks, department head for auto collision repair. “We started from the ground up.”
Jesse Pikul, 16, a junior in the auto collision program, said they dismantled the entire cart and sanded the exterior down until it was almost bare.
“It was black so we had to sand that down so the new paint would stick,” said Dakota Blakesley, 17, a junior enrolled in collision repair. “It wasn’t too bad.”
Students in an automotive program focused on internal mechanics fixed the ignition.
The school provided the police department with a quote of about $700 to pay for the work done. Superintendent Kevin Farr said the costs will be paid for by the person who stole the golf cart.
“I was in luck,” Sklarski said about the school’s work on the golf cart. “They were a big help.”
As for the youth who stole the cart, Sklarski said a court date has yet to be scheduled.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.