National Parks Free This Weekend

NPS waives entrance fees to celebrate National Public Lands Day

Have you been dreaming of gallivanting through Glacier or yo-yo-ing through Yellowstone, but you're flat broke? Get thee to a National Park this weekend: The National Park Service will waive all entrance fees for all 147 sites that charge you to get in. Entrances fees usually cost from $3-25.

The NPS chose to drop fees for Sept. 27 to celebrate National Public Lands Day and on Sept. 28 to honor the country’s newest citizens. If I were a new citizen, I could think of few better ways to celebrate my citizenship than to party at one of my new home country's sweetest natural wonders—for free.

“Each park is a special place set aside to tell a part of our country’s story,” said National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar, herself a naturalized citizen. “I feel it is important that every American, no matter how long his or her family has lived in the United States, connects firsthand with the heritage preserved in National Park Service sites.”

There you have it — marching orders from the NPS director herself. Get out there and play, and when you get back, tell us where you've been.

— Ted Alvarez

National Park Service waives entrance fees this weekend (NPS.gov)

Thanks, Jason