Badlands and Minuteman Missile Commemorate Veterans Day with Fee Free Weekend

Date: November 9, 2012
Contact: Badlands: Julie Johndreau, 605-433-5242
Contact: Minuteman Missile: Jennie Kish Albrinck, 605-433-5552, ext. 238

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK / MINUTEMAN MISSILE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, S.D. - Badlands National Park and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site are two of the 398 units in the national park system that give thanks this Veterans Day weekend to the men and women who have defended our freedom through military service. Badlands, a fee park, will join other national park fee locations and offer a fee-free weekend from Saturday, November 10, 2012 through Monday, November 12, 2012.

 "National parks preserve places that commemorate our country's collective heritage - our ideals, our majestic lands, our sacred sites, our patriotic icons - which our military has defended through the years," said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "We are grateful for the service and sacrifice of military members, past and present, and honored to tell their story at many of our national parks."

The Ben Reifel Visitor Center in Badlands National Park is open from 8:00 - 4:00 daily.  Enjoy a hike on one of the park's many beautiful trails. The Visitor Center at neighboring Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is open daily from 8:00 - 4:30 Monday through Friday, and 9:00 - 4:00 Saturday and Sunday. Tours of its Delta-1 Launch Control Center are offered at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m each day.  Tour tickets are given out on a first come, first served basis by coming to the Visitor Center, located in Cactus Flat, south of I-90 at Exit 131.

The Veterans Day weekend is the last of the National Park Service entrance fee free days for 2012. For more information, please see Free Entrance Days in the National Parks.