Chicago lakefront and suburbs
An engagement ring lost on a Chicago beach, minutes or days after the proposal
The city beaches and downtown lawns, Evanston, Naperville, Elgin and Plainfield
The Chicago Park District looks after 26 miles (about 42 km) of open, free lakefront, and Choose Chicago names Promontory Point among its places to propose. With a lost engagement ring on a city beach, what you remember about where you stood is the most useful thing you have.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Chicago and its suburbs with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
It does not have to be a ring. We take enquiries for Oura rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, phones, keys, metal-framed glasses and hearing aids.
While you are still standing on the sand
The Park District has North Avenue Beach open from 6 am to 11 pm, with lifeguards on duty from 11 am to 7 pm in season. Before you dig through the sand yourself, line yourself up with two fixed things, such as a corner of the beach house and a sign or a light pole. Photograph the view towards the lake and towards the city, drop a pin and write down the time.
Then message us on WhatsApp with what it is, a picture of it, and where and when you last saw it.
You may be tempted to look up metal detector rental Chicago and do it yourself. Renting one can suit a fresh loss on dry sand or a lawn. For wet sand, the lake itself, a big stretch of beach or a thin band with a small stone, a detectorist makes more sense.
Places we cover in Chicago and its suburbs
- Chicago
- Evanston
- Naperville
- Elgin
- Trout Park, Elgin
- Plainfield
- Wilmette
- North Avenue Beach
- Oak Street Beach
- Montrose Beach
- 31st Street Beach
- Rainbow Beach
- Promontory Point
- Grant Park
- Millennium Park
- Chicago Riverwalk
- Centennial Beach
- Lords Park and Wing Park
- Forest Preserves of Cook County
From the skyline beaches to a quarry pool in Naperville
Six parts of the area, the lake first and the suburbs after.
The ocean-liner beach house at North Avenue, the rented chairs at Oak Street
The beach house at North Avenue is a blue and white building shaped like an ocean liner, with upper decks and portholes. Volleyball courts, kayaks and paddleboards are rented there. At Oak Street Beach the Park District lists a pedestrian tunnel to the sand, chair rentals, the Oak Street Beach Café and what it calls a spectacular view of the city skyline. A ring could come off with the sunscreen, in a dive for the ball or over the side of a paddleboard.
Montrose Beach is the one with the kiteboards
The Park District has kiteboarding at Montrose Beach and nowhere else. There are kayak and volleyball rentals, a launch for non-motorised boats and a dog friendly beach at the north end. A key fob in a pocket or a watch on a wet wrist might go while a kayak is dragged to the water.
The beach beside 31st Street Harbor and the one at 77th Street
Margaret T. Burroughs Beach, also known as 31st Street Beach, sits beside 31st Street Harbor and its 1,000 floating slips, with a public fishing dock. Rainbow Beach, at 77th Street, has handball courts and a sand dune area, the Rainbow Beach Dunes. Tell us the last place you remember putting the bracelet or the phone down.
Chicago's Front Yard and the path along the river
Grant Park, which the Park District calls Chicago's Front Yard, covers 312.98 acres (about 127 hectares) between Randolph Street and Roosevelt Road, from Michigan Avenue to the lake. It has gardens, baseball and softball diamonds, and Buckingham Fountain as its centrepiece. The Riverwalk follows the south bank of the Chicago River for 1.25 miles (2 km). A ring dropped on a lawn and one that went over the Riverwalk's edge are very different searches.
Evanston's swimming beaches and the sailing beach in Wilmette
Evanston runs five public swimming beaches on the lake: Clark Street, Greenwood Street, Lee Street, Lighthouse and South Boulevard. A sixth, Lincoln Street Beach, is operated by Northwestern University. Gillson Park in Wilmette has a swimming beach, a sailing beach with boat rentals, a dog beach and an open-air amphitheatre, the Wallace Bowl. Rigging a boat or throwing a ball for the dog might be the moment a ring or a chain goes.
Naperville swims in a quarry, Elgin picnics in Lords Park
Centennial Beach in Naperville is a historic stone quarry holding 6.2 million gallons (about 23.5 million litres) of water, from zero depth down to 15 feet (4.6 metres). In Elgin, Lords Park covers 108 acres (44 hectares), with a zoo and picnic shelters, and Wing Park 121 acres (49 hectares), with a bandshell and sand volleyball. Trout Park, near Interstate 90 and Route 25, runs down through wooded ravines to a boat launch and fishing area on the Fox River. For Plainfield we picture a back yard, a ball field or a park lawn, and we ask the same things: where you stood, and what has happened to the ground since.
Five things to know before you message us
One ring, and one person to tell
Metal detecting Chicago beaches for fun and looking for one particular ring are different jobs. We arrange a search for your item, and the same person answers you on WhatsApp from the first message to the last.
The photographer's pictures do real work
Proposal photos can show where you stood, with the skyline or the beach house behind you. We pass them to the detectorist along with your pin.
Straight talk about the river
Dry sand at North Avenue with a good pin gives a search something to work with. A phone in the Chicago River gives it very little. We tell you which kind of case yours is before you get your hopes up.
There is no low tide to wait for
NOAA counts the Great Lakes as non-tidal. So we ask about the wind and the waves on the day instead, and how far from the water's edge you were.
You hear the costs before you decide
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
What the lake and the calendar change about a search
A shoreline that was built
The Park District says a landfill addition in the late 1930s, from Fullerton Avenue to North Avenue, accounts for most of North Avenue Beach and added more than 875,000 square feet (about 81,000 square metres) of parkland. So there is sand at the water and park behind it. Tell us which you were on.
No tide, but a lake level that moves
NOAA puts the largest Great Lakes tide at less than 2 inches (5 cm) and says levels change mainly with the weather. Wind can set up a seiche, an oscillating wave that can be several feet high. The lake also rises and falls over the years, and NWS Chicago notes that high water can flood low-lying beaches, parks and trails.
Lifeguards until Labor Day, first snow in November
The beach season runs from the Friday before Memorial Day to Labor Day. NWS Chicago gives November 18 as the normal date of the first measurable snow at O'Hare and April 2 for the last (1991 to 2020). Has it snowed since you lost it? Put that in your message.
Beach by beach, the practical questions
He proposed at Promontory Point an hour ago and the ring fell out of the box. What do we do right now?
Mark the spot before anything else. Stand where he knelt, photograph the ground and the view in both directions, drop a pin and note the time. Then send all of it to us on WhatsApp.
The stone fell out of my ring at Oak Street Beach. Can a metal detector find a lost diamond?
It depends on what is missing. A detector looks for metal, so a stone still in its setting and a loose stone are different searches, and the first thing we ask is which it is. A loose stone means a careful search by eye and with a sieve, close to the spot. Check the rented chair, the towel and your bag first.
My key fob was in my pocket when we launched kayaks at Montrose Beach. Do you look for keys?
We do, and for phones, watches, metal-framed glasses and hearing aids as well. Tell us where you carried the kayak from and where it went into the water. Ask at the kayak rental in case it was handed in.
My phone slid off a ledge on the Riverwalk into the river. Can anything be done?
The river is a much poorer bet than a beach, and we would rather say so now. Tell us which bridges you were between and how far out it fell, and we will say plainly what could be tried. An Apple Watch or a bracelet dropped on the path itself is a different matter.
I lost a gold earring on the grass at Centennial Beach in Naperville. Is one earring too small?
Not too small, but it needs a tight starting point. Tell us where your towels were on the open grass, and send a photo of the matching earring. If it could have come off in the water instead, say how deep you were.
My daughter's chain came off swimming at Lighthouse Beach in Evanston. Who do we tell first?
The beach first, since it takes a minute. Evanston has beach offices at Clark Street and at Dempster Street. Then send us a pin and how deep she was. A thin chain in water is a hard search, and we will tell you how hard once we know the details.
My husband's wedding band went missing at a family picnic in Lords Park in Elgin. We live in Plainfield. Who do we talk to?
Us. Elgin and Plainfield are both on this page. Lords Park has two picnic shelters, so tell us which one you had and where the games were played. If the lost ring could have come off at home in Plainfield instead, a sketch of the yard helps just as much.
Chicago lakefront and suburbs
Tell us where you were standing
A pin, the proposal photos and the time are enough to start.
With a lost ring, a search is only as good as its starting point. If a photographer has the pictures, ask for the unedited set. Send those with the pin and the time on WhatsApp, and we will tell you how the chances look and what happens next.