One of Edmonton’s largest and most beloved parks will reopen later this year after being closed since 2023 for an extensive above and underground overhaul.
An extensive three-year rehabilitation has been taking place at Hawrelak Park in the North Saskatchewan River Valley, and the city says construction continues on time and on budget, with many of the ‘finishing touches’ being added this summer.
“Over the last few months, there was substantial progress on the picnic shelters, main pavilion and the operations yard, including the Heritage Festival storage area,” said a statement this weekend from Jesse Banford, the director of facility infrastructure delivery with the City of Edmonton’s integrated infrastructure services department.
The rehabilitation work includes updates to the main pavilion structure and plaza’s finishes, fixtures, skate flooring, commercial kitchen, mechanical and electrical systems and adding gender-neutral washrooms.
“Work has continued within the facilities, with most buildings now dry-walled. Earlier this spring, remaining site work resumed, including electrical, landscaping and paving.”
The city said it’s working on details for reopening the park this winter, as planned.
“The guarantee that we have is that it will be open for the Silver Skate Festival, which, as you know, is one of Edmonton’s best winter festivals,” said city Coun. Michael Janz.
“So we’re excited — it’s been too long.”
Most of the infrastructure in Hawrelak was original to the park since its opening in 1967 and had exceeded its lifespan.
Before finalizing the plan, there was extensive debate over which route to take: take down portions of the park and complete the work over a decade while maintaining limited access, or undertake a complete three-year closure to get it all done at once.
The city elected for the latter, despite an outcry from some community groups.
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“The only silver lining I can think of in the park closure has been that many Edmontonians have discovered other parks in the city, other river valley amenities, other ways to get outside and enjoy their community,” Janz said.
“I’ve seen so many families this year out at different spaces, different picnic tables — whether it’s Emily Murphy, whether it’s Borden, other places they may not usually go because Hawrelak Park was the go-to spot.
“Edmonton has so many wonderful parks, wonderful amenity spaces. Visitors are blown away how you can be in the middle of the river valley in a city of 1.25 million people and experience solitude. It’s beautiful.”
The Hawrelak Park project addressed outdated utilities, transportation, open spaces and facility infrastructure throughout the entire park.
A large part of the work involved digging up and replacing underground lines and pipes.
The city has replaced the entire storm sewer, irrigation and water systems and upgraded power, gas and telecommunications. It also expanded water service to provide firefighting coverage in several areas of the park.
That underground work is now complete, the city said.
“Throughout this summer, we expect to see the remaining sod placed, plantings installed, pathways paved, and Hawrelak Park Lake refilled,” Banford said.
“Landscaping (trees, shrubs, grass, etc.) will need time to establish and develop a strong root system before the park can reopen to the public.”
The Heritage Amphitheatre will also see several changes: new outdoor seating and finishes as well as lighting, structural, mechanical and electrical upgrades, along with the addition of family/gender-neutral washrooms and increased storage. The green room and back-of-house access will also be reconfigured.
In the park’s open spaces, the playground and paddle boat dock will be replaced. Banford said the playground equipment was also recently installed.
The city is adding more lighting, bicycle parking and shared-use paths, connecting amenities, and repaving all roads. Sediment from the bottom of the lake has also been dredged.
The work should leave the massive river valley park updated for decades to come.
The city said the target for construction completion is early fall, but other work will have to take place before Hawrelak can reopen for visitors.
“Before resuming park operations, the project team will also install site furniture (including picnic tables and benches), equipment, signage, garbage/recycling receptacles and information boards. Staff preparation will also occur,” Banford said.
“Hawrelak Park is an active construction site with the project team working diligently to complete seasonal work.”
Events like the Heritage Festival, taking place this weekend in Border Park, will be able to return home next summer.
Heritage organizers said part of the agreement to move the food and culture festival included a memorandum of understanding with the City of Edmonton guaranteeing a right to return to Hawrelak Park, an agreement about incremental cost coverage and improvements to the site’s egress.
The city said there will be a media tour of the site later this year when the park landscaping and pathways are established and ready for increased foot traffic.
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