July 4th fireworks returns to Mount Rushmore after a decade missing despite pandemic

Mount Rushmore will be lit up by fireworks on July 4 this year for the first time in more than a decade, the National Park Service said.

NPS announced Tuesday that Independence Day fireworks will return to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota, after 11 years, according to an NPS news release.

An environmental assessment found that having fireworks at the monument would have no significant impact. Those results allow the Independence Day fireworks celebration to be permitted, according to the news release.

“President Trump and I believe that our nation’s founding should be celebrated with the same Pomp and Parade that John Adams described in 1776, and having a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore once again will be an incredible spectacle for the American people to enjoy,” Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said in a statement.

Some cities across the country have already canceled their Independence Day plans as the coronavirus pandemic continues, McClatchy News reported.

“The July 4th Celebration in Southport has been an iconic event for over 200 years,” Southport, North Carolina, Mayor Joseph Hatem said, according to McClatchy News. “It is my recommendation during this COVID-19 Pandemic that ... this celebration of independence and freedom be canceled to assist in stopping the spread of this contagious disease. This was a difficult decision, but the most prudent one and will ... save lives.”

NPS, however, says the event will follow Trump’s “Opening Up America Again” guidelines, the news release said. Weather conditions, security and wildland fire conditions also could change the event.

“The public’s health and safety is of utmost importance, and therefore conditions in the permit issued to the state will allow for modifications to the event in accordance with all national, state and local health and safety guidelines,” NPS said in the news release.

This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 3:55 PM with the headline "July 4th fireworks returns to Mount Rushmore after a decade missing despite pandemic."