National Park Fee-Free Days: Context Over Outrage

by Dee Dee Bass Wilbon & Deana Bass Williams

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Once again, Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) has caused people from all spectrums of the left to lose their minds as The National Park Service’s 2026 schedule removes Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of free-fee days. A review of the program’s history shows the reaction is misplaced.

The NPS fee-free day program began in 2008 under President George W. Bush. However, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was never designated as a fee-free day under George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was added for the very first time in 2018, under none other than President Donald Trump. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 and was added to the fee-free list in 2024 under President Biden.

For 2026, the Trump administration has removed five existing fee-free dates, including MLK Day and Juneteenth, while adding seven new ones tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary and the history of the National Park System. Newly designated days include Presidents Day, an extended Independence Day weekend, Constitution Day, the 110th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the birthdays of Theodore Roosevelt and the U.S. Army (Flag Day).

If adding MLK Day and Juneteenth was an effort to increase interest in these national treasures among non-white people, it failed miserably.  The National Park Service recorded 325.5 million recreation visits in 2023, the most recent year with complete data. Yet visitor surveys consistently show stark racial disparities. According to the NPS Visitor Use Statistics program and peer-reviewed studies, approximately 77% of visitors identify as white, 11% as Hispanic or Latino, 6% as Asian, and only 2% as Black or African American.

Rather than leaning into your TDS and framing the 2026 changes as an attack on African Americans, why not take a step back and seize the remaining fee-free opportunities to experience America’s great parks.  Make some homemade gorp, put on khaki’s a patagonia and safari hat and visit the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Smoky Mountains and hundreds of other sites that belong to every taxpayer.

Outrage over a schedule adjustment that originated under the same president now accused of dismantling it reflects more about persistent political polarization than about actual discrimination. The parks remain open to all. Take advantage of the free days that are offered, bring your family, and let the numbers speak for themselves.