South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration is applying for a 2024 Mount Rushmore fireworks permit in the wake of the Biden administration continually denying permit applications over the last three years.
According to a press release from the governor’s office, the Noem administration submitted the request to the National Parks Service. This request follows three years of denials from the National Parks Service under Biden’s leadership.
Originally held from 1998 to 2009, the fireworks returned in 2020 under Trump’s leadership after being rejected for over ten years.
Trump spoke at the Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore in 2020, offering a history lesson on the great men who established the country as we know it today.
“They were American giants in full flesh and blood. Gallant men, whose intrepid deeds unleashed the greatest leap of human advancement the world has ever known,” Trump said during the speech.
“Tonight, I will tell you — and most importantly, the youth of our nation — the true stories of these great men,” he said, detailing the contributions of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln, whose likenesses are carved into the granite of Mount Rushmore.
Fireworks followed the event, the first fireworks at Mount Rushmore in 11 years.
First fireworks over Rushmore in 11 years. pic.twitter.com/9beXVH4GD4
— joe johns (@joejohnstv) July 4, 2020
“There is truly no better place to celebrate America’s Birthday than Mount Rushmore. The Biden Administration has consistently denied us the ability to celebrate our nation’s Freedom with fireworks,” Noem said in a statement released Wednesday, vowing to “keep fighting to host fireworks at Mount Rushmore and celebrate our Freedoms.”
