Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove
Lost a ring in an Edmonton park?
Hawrelak Park, down in the river valley, is where many of the city's festivals and events take place.
Losing one earring at a Hawrelak Park festival is not the end of it, provided you can say roughly where in the park you spent the day. The odds turn on how many parts of the park you moved between, and on whether a photo or a friend can place the spot where your group sat.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that works with experienced local metal detectorists across Canada to search for a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone lost in Edmonton.
Tell us what happened and where. We choose an experienced detectorist who knows the park or the yard, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
It works the same way for the other river valley parks, the city's ball diamonds and backyards, and the parks of St. Albert, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove.
If you are weighing up metal detector hire, a rented machine on your own lawn, where you know the patch and can take all afternoon, is a reasonable try. A festival site is a job for a detectorist.
Rebuild the festival day in order
Scroll back through the day's pictures on your phone and your friends' phones. A picture with both earrings in, taken by the lake or in front of a stage, tells us where it was still on. Then pin the spot where your group sat, and write down the food stands, washrooms and stages you went to, in the order you went.
Away from Hawrelak, use whatever does not move: the picnic site you booked at Laurier Park, the hole on the disc golf course at Jubilee Park, the fence of the dog park at Lacombe Lake Park, or the patch of lawn in your own backyard.
Places we cover in Edmonton
- Backyards and lawns across Edmonton
- William Hawrelak Park and the lake
- Emily Murphy Park and its boat launch
- Gallagher Park, beside the Edmonton Ski Hill
- Victoria Park and its sports fields
- Louise McKinney Riverfront Park, downtown
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park
- Rundle Park, northeast Edmonton
- Coronation Park
- Callingwood Park
- Buena Vista Park off-leash area
- Terwillegar Park off-leash area
- Gold Bar Park
- Ball diamonds and soccer fields across the city
- St. Albert: Lacombe Lake Park
- Kingswood Park, St. Albert
- Big Lake and Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park
- Astotin Lake beach and picnic shelters, Elk Island National Park
- Sherwood Park: Broadmoor Lake Park
- Centennial Park, Sherwood Park
- Spruce Grove: Jubilee Park
- Central Park, Spruce Grove
Edmonton's parks and the communities around it
Most are City of Edmonton parks; the last cards cover St. Albert, Big Lake, Elk Island, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove.
William Hawrelak Park
William Hawrelak Park sits in the river valley and holds many of the city's festivals and events, with wide open meadows, shady picnic spots and a lake. People go out on the lake only in boats rented at the park. The lakefront has a new promenade, and there is a new nature-themed playground.
Emily Murphy Park and Gallagher Park
Emily Murphy Park is on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan beside Hawrelak Park, with picnic sites, a playground and a boat launch. Gallagher Park, in Cloverdale beside the Edmonton Ski Hill, is where Edmonton's Folk Music Festival is held.
Victoria, Laurier and Louise McKinney parks
Victoria Park and Laurier Park both lie on the north bank of the river. Victoria Park, in central Edmonton, has premier sports fields booked for cricket and baseball. Laurier Park, in the west end, has several picnic sites, natural playgrounds, ball diamonds and a vehicle boat launch onto the river. Louise McKinney Riverfront Park sits just south of the Edmonton Convention Centre.
Rundle, Coronation and Callingwood parks
Rundle Park is in northeast Edmonton on the north bank, with sports fields, picnic sites, a playground, trails and a golf course. At Coronation Park the picnic sites are covered by a canopy for shade, and there is a large grassy area. Callingwood Park has picnic sites, a pavilion, spray and skate parks, and hosts the Kites Over Callingwood festival.
Off-leash ground at Buena Vista, Terwillegar and Gold Bar
Buena Vista Park, on the north bank next to Laurier Park, has a large off-leash area. Terwillegar Park, at the end of Rabbit Hill Road on the south bank, has an expansive off-leash area and a footbridge over the river. Gold Bar Park, also on the south bank, pairs its off-leash area with picnic sites. On ground this open, the parking lot you set out from and the loop you walked are the best clues.
Lacombe Lake Park and Kingswood Park, St. Albert
Lacombe Lake Park is a community favourite and often bustling, with walking trails, a fenced dog park and an open field for kite flying and catch. Kingswood Park lies close to the Sturgeon River, with long curved trails, a disc golf course, a floating dock and an open field of its own.
Big Lake and Astotin Lake
On the western edge of St. Albert, Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park borders Big Lake, and a boardwalk runs through the wetland to a viewing platform. East of the city in Elk Island National Park, the Astotin Lake area has a sandy beach, a playground and picnic shelters looking out over the lake and its islands. Name the shelter or the stretch of boardwalk.
Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove
Broadmoor Lake Park is the festival hub for Strathcona County, with seating overlooking the lake, a playground, a spray park and sports fields. In Spruce Grove, Jubilee Park has picnic areas, trails, a playground and disc golf, and Central Park, in the heart of the city, hosts gatherings such as Light Up and Summer in the City.
Who you deal with, and what we ask for
Nobody new halfway through
Your WhatsApp chat stays with one person at our end. They brief the detectorist, and the result comes back to you in that same chat.
Tell us about the earring
The metal, any stone and the way it fastened, whether a butterfly back, a hook or a hoop, tell the detectorist what they are looking for.
A whole festival site
When the earring could be anywhere you walked that day and nothing narrows it down, it is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Before anything is booked
We explain the costs before any search is booked, so you can weigh them against what the earring means to you.
Describing the ground you were on
Some details only matter on one kind of ground.
After the festival packs up
Stages, tents and fencing come down when a festival ends, so describe your spot by what stays: in Hawrelak Park the lake, the promenade or a picnic shelter, and at Gallagher Park the Dove of Peace sculpture or the ski hill beside it.
League games
A league game has a date, a field and a start time, and a team-mate may have photos from the bench. Send those along with where you played: Laurier Park and Centennial Park in Sherwood Park both have ball diamonds, and Broadmoor Lake Park has sports fields.
Launches and the riverbank
Emily Murphy Park and Laurier Park have boat launches, Hawrelak Park has a hand launch with a floating dock, and Terwillegar Park has a canoe hand launch. Name the launch you used and pin where you stood or sat on the bank.
Want a first idea of your chances? Try the lost ring recovery calculator.
Questions about Edmonton and its neighbours
I came home from a festival at Hawrelak Park with one earring, and the missing one is tiny.
Tiny matters less than how much of the park you crossed that day. Hawrelak Park has wide open meadows, shady picnic spots and a lake with a new promenade along its front, and a paved path loops round the inside of the park. Tell us which part you kept returning to, such as a picnic spot, the promenade or the lakefront, and which stages or food stands pulled you away from it.
Taking off a batting glove at Victoria Park, I think my wedding band came off with it.
Turn the glove inside out first, then tip your kit bag onto a towel. If neither has it, your booking tells us which of the premier sports fields at Victoria Park you were on. After that, list each time you pulled the glove off and where you put it down, and the path you took back to the parking lot.
Rundle Park picnic, necklace missing: do we need to remember which site we had?
It helps more than anything else. At Rundle Park the picnic site comes first, then everything else you did that day. Pin the playground or a field too if anyone used them.
In St. Albert, a watch strap gave way while we were flying a kite on the open field at Lacombe Lake Park.
The open field at Lacombe Lake Park is there for kite flying and games of catch, so it is one stretch of grass to cover. Pin the patch you launched from and each spot where the kite came down, because you were running back and forth between them. If you walked the park trails or went into the fenced dog park before you noticed, draw that route too.
Does the search area stretch to Sherwood Park?
It does. Broadmoor Lake Park hosts the Canada Day celebrations and the farmers market, and Centennial Park has slo-pitch and baseball diamonds and picnic areas. Name the event or the diamond, say whether it is an engagement ring, a bracelet or something else, and drop a pin where you think it happened.
Halfway round the disc golf course at Jubilee Park in Spruce Grove, I reached for my chain and it had gone.
Jubilee Park has its disc golf course alongside the picnic areas, trails and playground. Go through the round hole by hole: where you threw from, where each disc landed and whether you left the fairway to fetch one. Mark first the holes where you hunted longest for a disc.
The car keys were in my jacket at our Emily Murphy Park picnic site, and not when we got back to the car.
Emily Murphy Park sits on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan, between Kinsmen Park and Hawrelak Park, with picnic sites, a playground and a boat launch. Pin your picnic site and where the car was parked, and say whether the jacket went with anyone to the playground or down to the launch. Describe the key ring too, with anything else that hangs from it.
Edmonton
Tell us which park it was
A photo of the earring that came home helps from the first message.
On WhatsApp, name the park and the festival or game you were at, and drop a pin where your group sat. If it was Hawrelak and you are unsure of the spot, mark your best guess on the park site map from the City's Hawrelak Park page.