Trump will attend July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks display

President Donald Trump will attend the first fireworks display in six years at Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3, according to announcements Thursday morning from Freedom 250 and South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden.

The event, officially known as South Dakota’s Freedom 250 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration, in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday, will have 4,800 attendees who won tickets in an online lottery prior to the announcement of Trump’s attendance. The National Park Service plans to close the memorial to the public on the evening of July 2 and open it for event ticketholders only on July 3.

Trump will deliver keynote remarks, according to Freedom 250, a Trump administration planning group. The Freedom 250 press release said Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum — the former governor of North Dakota — and Rhoden will also speak.

Environmental, tribal concerns persist as fireworks bring ‘rock concert in phone booth’ to Rushmore

“It is my honor to welcome President Trump to the great state of South Dakota — the freest state in a nation founded on the principles of freedom,” Rhoden said in a news release.

The visit could be a political boost for Rhoden, who’s in the midst of a top-two runoff campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, after nobody earned the required 35% for victory in the four-way June 2 primary. Rhoden finished second in the primary to Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden. Advance voting is underway for their runoff election, which is July 28.

Trump also attended Mount Rushmore’s most recent fireworks display in 2020, after then-Gov. Kristi Noem asked him to reinstate the event. The National Park Service had ended the fireworks shows more than a decade earlier due to concerns about embers falling in the surrounding forest and sparking wildfires, plus concerns about chemicals from fireworks polluting local water sources, litter from exploded fireworks lingering on the grounds, and opposition from Native American tribes that formerly controlled the surrounding Black Hills.

During the 2020 event, a Native American-led protest on a road leading to Mount Rushmore turned into a physical clash with law enforcement, who arrested more than a dozen people. Charges were later dropped.

South Dakota’s Department of Tourism entered into a $700,000 contract in April with California-based Pyro Spectaculars to produce this year’s fireworks show, and for “lighting elements that can be utilized if environmental conditions require an alternative to fireworks,” according to the department.

“Environmental conditions” is a reference to potentially high wildfire danger from drought or other factors, although the Black Hills area has had a run of rainfall lately. Pyro Spectaculars did not directly respond to South Dakota Searchlight’s request for detailed information about what visitors could expect from any potential alternative “lighting elements,” but the company’s website features its work on drone shows.

Trump will also visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, July 1 before it opens to the public July 4.