Hay Lakes is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located along Highway 21, approximately 32 km north of Camrose and 50 km southeast of Edmonton. Hay Lakes was pioneered and settled primarily by immigrants from Sweden and Norway. Hay Lakes' founding pioneer was James McKernan who established a telegraph station in the area in 1876. In 1911 the Canadian National Railway began its Edmonton to Calgary line which ran through Hay Lakes. Hay Lakes was incorporated as a village in 1928.