News Release

Mount Rushmore Celebrates Independence Day with Variety of Events and Activities

Activities include a flag folding on the Grand View Terrace.

NPS Photo

News Release Date: July 1, 2024

Contact: Earl Perez-Foust, 605-574-3115

KEYSTONE, SD –– Visitors to Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3^rd and July 4^th will have the opportunity to experience a variety of educational programs, patriotic tributes, and musical entertainment in celebration of Independence Day. All events are listed below. Specific times and locations are published on the park’s Event Calendar.

Planned events include presidential re-enactors representing the four presidents on the sculpture: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The re-enactors will kick-off the park’s celebration at 9:30 a.m. with an in-character news conference in the Carvers’ Café. Visitors are encouraged to bring questions for the presidents to the event. At scheduled times, the presidents will give presentations, sign autographs, and mingle with visitors on the Memorial grounds.

Visitors will also have opportunities to enjoy Indigenous art, hoop dancing, music, and storytelling throughout the day from hoop dancers Starr Chief Eagle, Jasmine Pickner-Bell, and storytellers and historians, Darrell Red Cloud and Sequoia Crosswhite.

July 3^rd events will culminate with a special evening program beginning at 7:30 p.m. featuring a hoop dance performance by Jasmine Bell and musical performances by the Heartland of America band, Sophia Beatty, and Darrell Red Cloud. Ellsworth Air Force Base Honor Guard will assist in the Flag Folding Ceremony and Retreat.

July 4^th daytime visitors can enjoy the presidential re-enactors, Native performers and culture bearers, musical performances by Miss South Dakota Joelle Simpson and the Heartland of America band, and the traditional Evening Lighting Ceremony.

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