President Donald Trump will attend a fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on July 3, marking the first such display at the iconic monument in six years and the president’s second visit to the site for a fireworks event.
The Event
The celebration, officially titled “South Dakota’s Freedom 250 Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration,” was announced Thursday by Freedom 250 and South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. Trump is scheduled to deliver keynote remarks, joined at the podium by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Gov. Rhoden.
Attendance will be limited to roughly 4,800 ticketholders selected through an online lottery — a process completed before Trump’s participation was publicly announced. The National Park Service will close the memorial to general visitors on the evening of July 2 and reopen it exclusively to ticketholders on July 3.
South Dakota’s Department of Tourism entered a contract in April with Pyro Spectaculars for the fireworks production. The contract, valued at $700,000, also includes lighting alternatives should environmental conditions prevent the fireworks from going forward.
Historical and Political Context
Trump previously attended a Mount Rushmore fireworks display in 2020, an event that drew significant attention. The National Park Service had suspended fireworks at the memorial for more than a decade before 2020 over environmental concerns and objections from some Native American tribes who consider the Black Hills sacred. During the 2020 event, a Native American-led protest resulted in a physical confrontation with law enforcement, with more than a dozen people arrested — though those charges were later dropped.
The return of fireworks to Mount Rushmore under the Trump administration reflects a broader shift in federal land management priorities under Interior Secretary Burgum, who has been a visible figure in the administration’s approach to public lands and natural resources.
Gov. Rhoden’s welcome of Trump to the state comes at a politically consequential moment. “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 the announcement.
Rhoden’s Runoff Campaign
Rhoden is currently fighting to secure the Republican nomination for governor in a July 28 runoff election. South Dakota requires a candidate to earn at least 35 percent of the vote to win a primary outright. In the June 2 four-way primary, no candidate cleared that threshold. Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden finished first, with Rhoden placing second, triggering the runoff under state law.
Rhoden’s prominent role hosting a presidential event at a high-profile national landmark — and the opportunity to appear alongside Trump before a politically engaged audience — gives him a boost of visibility heading into the July 28 contest.
Trump’s Regional Tour
The Mount Rushmore stop is part of a broader regional swing. Trump is scheduled to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota on July 1, two days before the South Dakota event. The library opens to the public on July 4, the day after Trump’s Mount Rushmore appearance.
The back-to-back visits to monuments tied to American history and Western identity fit a pattern the Trump administration has cultivated around patriotic symbolism and public lands access — themes that resonate across the Northern Plains and Mountain West, including in Montana, where debates over public land management and federal oversight remain politically significant. Discussions over hunting access, park fees, and federal land policy have remained active in the region; Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is currently seeking public comment on proposed fee increases at state parks and access sites through July 24.
The July 3 fireworks event at Mount Rushmore will be one of the most watched Independence Day celebrations in the country, drawing national attention to South Dakota and to the administration’s approach to public lands access ahead of the summer holiday weekend.
Category: Politics & Elections
