By Seth Tupper, SD Searchlight
Mount Rushmore will host an Independence Day-themed fireworks display next year, bringing worldwide attention to the national memorial and South Dakota, but also bringing concerns about potential forest fires, water pollution, litter and other problems.
South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden announced Monday that the state has reached an agreement with the federal government to host a fireworks display at the mountain carving next year in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday. Rhoden said in a news release that he struck the agreement with Doug Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota and new secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service.
“We are ready to throw the biggest birthday party ever for the United States of America,” Rhoden said in the release.
Fireworks have a complicated history at Mount Rushmore. The National Park Service began allowing shows in 1998 but ended them after 2009. Debris from the exploded fireworks lingered on the 1,278-acre memorial site, a chemical in fireworks was believed to be polluting the memorial’s water supply, and officials had grown tired of deploying dozens of firefighters in the forest around the memorial to put out fires started by falling fireworks embers.
There are also conflicting feelings about the fireworks in Keystone, the town at the base of the mountain. While some business owners welcome the fireworks displays and benefit from them, others have said the town is overwhelmed by the tens of thousands of visitors who converge all at once for the spectacle.
In 2020, then-Gov. Kristi Noem convinced the Trump administration to reauthorize fireworks at Mount Rushmore and also convinced President Donald Trump to attend. The show that year sparked controversy for gathering thousands of people together during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for a protest that turned into a physical altercation with law enforcement.
After that, the Biden administration ended the displays. Rhoden said he has invited Trump to next year’s display.
Rhoden’s announcement did not say how much the display will cost or how it will be funded. South Dakota Searchlight asked for an estimate and a funding source. Rhoden’s spokeswoman, Josie Harms, said “those details will be confirmed at the proper time.”
South Dakota spent $1.5 million on the 2020 display. Tourism officials estimated that global media coverage of the event generated the equivalent of $22 million in advertising for the state.
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