America the Beautiful Quarters Ceremony Dates

Locations and dates are now available for the remaining three 2010 America the Beautiful Quarters™ that will honor Yosemite National Park in California, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, and Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon.

The United States Mint this week invited the public to take part in celebrating the beauty of the sites as each of the new quarters is ceremoniously released.

"When we launched the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, we embarked on a journey to reconnect Americans with our beautiful national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other sites," said U.S. Mint Director Ed Moy.  "We hope families across the country will join us on this journey."

Two of the new coins have already been issued this year, with the:

• Hot Springs National Park Quarter ceremony held on April 20, 2010, and the
• Yellowstone National Park Quarter ceremony on June 3, 2010.

At each of these events, the Mint gave a free quarter to children 18 and younger and offered adults the opportunity to swap paper money for rolls of new quarters through special coin exchanges. It has become a tradition that will be continued during the launch ceremonies for the upcoming 2010 quarters.

Ceremonial event times should not be confused with the dates the coins are actually released into circulation through the American banking system, which happens at least one day earlier.

The Yosemite National Park Quarter is next up for release. The Mint will hold the launch ceremony on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Valley Visitor’s Center, located in Yosemite Village Loop, Yosemite, California.

Designed by Joseph Menna and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill, the quarter depicts El Capitan, which rises more than 3,000 feet above the valley floor and is the largest monolith of granite in the world. It will be released into circulation on July 26, 2010.

The launch ceremony for the Grand Canyon National Park is on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time at the grounds adjacent to El Tovar Hotel located in Grand Canyon, Arizona.

Designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill, the quarter image depicts the granaries above the Nankoweap Delta in Marble Canyon near the Colorado River. It will be released into circulation on September 20, 2010.

The final Mount Hood National Forest Quarter will be ceremoniously released on Wednesday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the World Forestry Center located at 4033 SW Canyon Road, Portland, Oregon.

The quarter-dollar features a view of Mount Hood with Lost Lake in the foreground. It was designed and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill and will be released into circulation on November 15, 2010.

Several 2010 quarters products for collectors have been issued and are available through the Mint’s online store at http://www.usmint.gov/). And as mentioned earlier, each of the quarters are released into circulation a few days prior to the actual ceremonies, and may be purchased in bags and rolls at that time directly from the U.S. Mint.

Additionally, the U.S. Mint will begin issuing bullion America the Beautiful 5 oz Silver Coins later this summer. These coins are duplicates of the quarters, but are struck from .999 fine silver and have a diameter of 3 inches. As a bullion product, they will be sold to U.S. Mint authorized buyers, who will in turn resell the coins for a small premium over the price of silver.

The America the Beautiful Quarters Program is a new 12-year initiative to honor 56 national parks and other national sites in every U.S. state and territory, and the District of Columbia. Five new quarters with differing reverse designs that are emblematic of each featured national site will be released each year, with the exception of final quarter in 2021 which will end the series — unless it is extended by the U.S. Treasury Secretary.