Mystics of Time rider loses wedding ring during parade

By Brendan Kirby

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A member of Mystics of Time lost a wedding ring during Saturday’s parade downtown, and now he and his wife are making a long-shot plea to anyone who might have come across it.

Hunter Harrelson said he has lost 60 to 70 pounds since he got married in 2013. During the parade, he said, he felt some movement along his ring finger.

“I noticed one time it was a little loose on my finger,” he said. “It had kinda come off. And I was thinking to myself, ‘Maybe I should take it off.’ And as we were making the rounds coming by Moe’s and the Garage, I was double-fisting Moon Pies. And I saw it glisten in the light, and it was gone.”

In the middle of a parade, there was not much Harrelson could do.

“Yeah, you can’t get off the float,” he said. “I mean, that’s a huge fine.”

Harrelson, who runs a vacation rental company in Orange Beach with his wife, said there was nothing unique about the ring. It’s a standard 14-karat white-gold wedding band with no special engravings or markings. But he said it had sentimental value because it is the ring his wife gave him on their wedding day 10 years ago this August.

“That ring, honestly, hasn’t come off my finger in nine years,” he said. “So for that to happen to me was kind of strange.”

Harrelson said he circled back to the area as soon as the parade was over but had no luck tracking it down. He said his wife put out a plea over Facebook. But he says he does not hold out much hope it will be found.

“I would assume (it got caught up by) the street sweeper. ‘cause I can’t imagine anyone would take that to the pawn shop or try to melt that down,” he said.

On the same night Harrelson lost his ring, the mayor of Natchez, Mississippi, also lost his in a Mardi Gras parade. Dan Gibson posted to Facebook on Sunday, though, that someone in the crowd had caught the ring and returned it.

So there is, perhaps, hope for Harrelson.

He said riders know not to wearing watches because they’ve been known to fly off with throws during the heat of a parade. He said his wife already has an eye on a replacement.

“I will admit, my wife has picked out another ring with a couple diamonds in it that she’s wanted to get me. And I think this is the opportunity for that purchase.”

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