What’s next for newly upgraded William Hawrelak Park?

William Hawrelak Park on May 30, 2026. (Connor Hogg/CTV News Edmonton)

William Hawrelak Park, the city’s largest central park, is now touting a number of upgraded features after a three-year, multi-million-dollar rehabilitation project.

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack says he’s already getting applications to resume hosting some of the city’s favourite events.

“Already events are getting planned. We’ve got the Freewill Shakespeare festival underway in the amphitheatre … we’ve got all of these great festivals and events wanting to come back here, getting ready to go,” he said at the park’s grand re-opening on Saturday.

While that could include the return of the Edmonton Heritage Festival, which was displaced for three years during much-needed Hawrelak underground work, Knack also hopes new organizers will take advantage of the beautified space.

“We see so many families already out enjoying on a beautiful day like today. That’s why cities invest in infrastructure like this,” he said.

He hopes that decades from now, new councillors who eventually need to redo the park’s infrastructure will have a less lengthy task ahead of them thanks to extensive work done in the present.

Similar conversations were happening nearly five decades ago, when city council first moved to rename the park. Former councillor Olivia Butti, who was elected in 1974 near the end of Mayor William Hawrelak’s mayoralty, can attest to that.

She was part of the council that renamed Mayfair Park to Edmonton’s longest-running mayor’s namesake in the 1980s.

Hawrelak’s two surviving daughters were also at the Saturday grand reopening.

“I’m very blessed to be alive and have the experience that I’ve had and what I’ve done,” Butti reflected.

“We went to conventions, and (former Mayor Hawrelak) made the point of calling me over to the table that he was sitting at with other mayors, and saying, ‘You’ve got to meet this lady,’ and he’d say I was very young and got talked into running.”

Her message for young Edmontonians in the face of Alberta separation debates is to get informed.

“Get interested in politics, that’s where the decisions are made, and make sure you (vote in) people that you want, that think like you do.”

Saturday’s grand re-opening was a day of family activities and enjoying the city’s newest lakefront restaurant, art installation and patio features.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg