![\"Shannon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c65ace1288bb97fd118830c818cbbf57.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nAfter a three-year closure for upgrades, Edmonton\u2019s William Hawrelak Park is once again set to host its summer and winter festivals.<\/p>\n
The park’s major $134.5-million renewal project resulted in refurbished infrastructure, a new lakefront promenade, a new playground, a modernized pavilion and renovated washrooms.<\/p>\n
The Heritage Amphitheatre also received a touch-up with 1,200 brand-new adjustable seats, accessibility aids such as ramps and hearing loops, renovated green rooms and winterized facilities.<\/p>\n
Starting Wednesday, visitors will be able to experience some of these renovations as the Freewill Shakespeare Festival returns to the amphitheatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing away from the park for the last three years has dynamically changed us as a company,\u201d said Shannon Jones, the festival\u2019s managing director.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really fun and interesting to see how passionate and engaged all of our staff and crew are in coming back to the park and getting to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shannon Jones sits in one of the Heritage Amphitheatre’s new, adjustable seats. The amphitheatre received a touch up during the renovation project with 1,200 brand new adjustable seats, accessibility aids, such as ramps and hearing loops, renovated green rooms, and winterized facilities. (Serra Hamilton\/CBC)<\/p>\n
During the closure, Freewill used alternative locations, including community hockey rinks and the Louise McKinney Riverfront Park.<\/p>\n
Jones described the location changes as a significant financial burden.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a couple moments last year where we were like, \u2018We don\u2019t know if we\u2019re going to make it to the park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jones said it was thanks to donations and city funding that Freewill stayed in business.<\/p>\n
The Edmonton Heritage Festival is also set to return to Hawrelak beginning Aug. 1. During the park’s closure, the festival was relocated to the Edmonton Exhibition Lands and Borden Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a homecoming for us,\u201d said Rob Rohatyn, the executive director of the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association.<\/p>\n
He said this year\u2019s Heritage Fest will welcome more than 60 pavilions representing over 60 cultures, and is expected to see 300,000 visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re excited to take advantage of everything that came with the rehabilitation,\u201d Rohatyn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe underground infrastructure is a huge benefit to our festival and with the upgrades, it certainly provides a stable source of both electricity and water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meshkin Makari , the City of Edmonton\u2019s supervisor of civic centre programs and events, said the park’s reopening means its festivals are now \u201cback home\u201d after three years of having to \u201cchop, change, tweak [and] adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such an amazing amenity and such a huge part of our river valley for residents and visitors to truly experience Edmonton in the most natural way,\u201d said Makari.<\/p>\n
The Silver Skate Festival is also set to return to the park in February.<\/p>\n
During Hawrelak Park\u2019s closure, the winter event relocated to Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re blessed with Hawrelak having a lot of infrastructure that we can utilize in terms of there\u2019s access to water and there\u2019s access to power that we don\u2019t necessarily get in other parks,\u201d said Erin DiLoreto, Silver Skate\u2019s executive producer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for over two decades, and I consider Hawrelak Park home,\u201d said DiLoreto.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s like moving back home and showcasing and celebrating one of the jewels of the river valley.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a three-year closure for upgrades, Edmonton\u2019s William Hawrelak Park is once again set to host its summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[33700,33698,33701,52,33697,33699,33696,28329],"class_list":["post-87903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-accessibility-aids","tag-adjustable-seats","tag-closure","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-heritage-festival","tag-hearing-loops","tag-shannon-jones","tag-william-hawrelak-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}