UNITED STATES — For the first time, the National Park Service will observe Juneteenth National Independence Day by waiving entrance fees to parks that usually charge admission on Wednesday, June 19.
Juneteenth is one of six fee-free days in the parks this year. Admission was also waived on Jan. 15 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and on April 20 for the first day of National Park Week. Still to come are free entry days on Aug. 4 for the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act, Sept. 28 for National Public Lands Day and Nov. 11 for Veterans Day.
Juneteenth, which commemorates of the abolition of slavery in the United States, was designated as a federal holiday in 2021. According to the park service, Juneteenth celebrates the date of June 19, 1865, when enslaved people of African descent living in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom. The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, was not being enforced by slaveholders in Confederate states without military intervention, which arrived in southern Texas two and a half years later.
The NPS reminds visitors that other fees might still apply on free entrance days.
“The entrance fee waiver for fee-free days does not cover amenity or user fees for activities such as camping, boat launches, transportation or special tours,” the agency says on its website.
Veterans and current members of the U.S. military can qualify for free park admission year-round through these park programs.
