If you are looking to spend the long weekend outdoors, all 63 national parks are free to enter on Memorial Day. While saving on entrance fees, it could be a good time to give back to local businesses that help parks run more efficiently.
Earlier this year, the Washington Examiner got the chance to view Grand Canyon National Park from above with Papillon Helicopters. While helicopter tours are the company’s main source of income, it also has contracts with the National Park Service.
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“We’ll go out and fight fires,” Albert Kim, Papillon’s lead pilot on shift, told the Washington Examiner. “We’ll go out on game captures or surveys.”
Kim showed how the contract helicopters were specially outfitted for firefighting or equipped with baskets for utility work.
The tour flew over ground zero of the North Rim, where the Dragon Bravo Fire scorched the landscape. A lightning strike on July 4, 2025, burned 145,504 acres and destroyed 113 structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. Papillon was part of the team flying in water to help fight the wildfire.
Kim told the Washington Examiner that Papillon will also fly supplies to Native American tribes living in remote locations around the Grand Canyon.
“Sometimes I’m just flying toilet paper,” Kim said. “Or [the helicopter] is just full of mail.”
There are several holidays throughout the year when NPS will waive entrance fees. However, this year, these fee-free days will be available only to U.S. citizens and residents. Nonresidents will still have to pay the regular entrance fee in addition to the new nonresident fees. Starting in January 2026, some parks charge an extra $100 per person for nonresident visitors.
THE HONOR PROJECT REMEMBERS FALLEN MILITARY ON MEMORIAL DAY
Here is a full list of days the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees:
- Feb. 16: Presidents Day (George Washington’s Birthday)
- May 25: Memorial Day
- June 14: Flag Day/President Donald Trump’s birthday
- July 3-5: Independence Day weekend
- Aug. 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
- Sept. 17: Constitution Day
- Oct. 27: Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday
- Nov. 11: Veterans Day
