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Events at the park

When we gather to remember.

Twice a year — once in the long light of May, once in the deep dark of December — the community comes to the angel to read names, light candles, and stand together. You are welcome at both.

Annual gathering · Third Tuesday in May at 7:00 pm

The May candlelight vigil.

Every year, on the third Tuesday in May, a candlelight vigil is held at the memorial park at 7:00 pm. The vigil has been held annually since the park was dedicated on May 26, 2012 — a community ritual now in its fourteenth year.

Bring a candle to light and a white flower to leave at the base of the angel in memory of your child. Names of the children inscribed on the memorial blocks are read aloud. Families, friends, and neighbors are all welcome — whether your loss was last week or decades ago, whether you've come for years or you're walking up for the first time.

The park sits inside Adam's Park (Grotto) in Fergus Falls. Parking is available along the park drive. The vigil is held outdoors and continues in light weather; in the event of severe weather, please check with a board member ahead of time — see our contact page for the full board roster.

Plan to attend Read the names
A single candle flame burning in soft light
Winter gathering · December 6 each year

The December candlelight gathering.

On December 6, families return to the angel for the winter companion to the May vigil — a quieter gathering in the early dark, when the year is closing and the names need saying again.

December 6 carries particular meaning across the international Angel of Hope network. In Richard Paul Evans' 1994 book The Christmas Box — the work that inspired more than one hundred Angel of Hope parks worldwide, including this one — December 6 is the date a grieving mother visits the angel in the cemetery to remember the child she lost. Families everywhere have kept that date since.

Bring a candle. Bring a white flower if you can find one in winter. Stand in the cold for a few minutes with people who understand. The angel does not mind the snow.

About the Angel of Hope tradition
A winter night sky filled with bare branches
Supporting the park

How the park is sustained.

Angel of Hope Memorial Park is maintained by a small, volunteer board and by the families who carry its meaning. We do not run a calendar of fundraisers. The two vigils are the work — they are why the park exists, and they are what we ask the community to come to.

Ongoing support comes through two paths: memorial blocks ordered by families who want a child's name carved into the pillars at the angel's base, and direct gifts. If you'd like to give in another way — a memorial donation, a volunteer hour, a flower delivery for a vigil — please reach out.

Ways to give and serve

Bring a candle.
Bring a white flower.
Join us at the park.

Get involved