Posted by You probably would expect a huge celebration of the US independence day would take place in a Danish forest – but it do. Every year on the fourth of July a lot of people gather together at the area called Rebild Bakker to celebrate the day. This is a long standing tradition since the area was given as a gift by a group of Danes who had immigrated to USA.
They bought this pretty hilly area and gave it to the Danish government with three conditions. First the area had to be preserved in a natural state, second the area had to be accessible to all and third Danish Americans should be allowed to come to the area and celebrate American national holidays.
The area was called Rebild National Park and every year there is a celebration of the fourth of July in the hills around Rebild. The festivities has taken place since 1912 when the park was inaugurated and King Christian X came and visited Rebild Bakker on the fourth of July along with 10,000 others. The celebrations have taken place every year since then with the exceptions of the two world wars. The highest number of people coming for the festivities was the post-world war II celebrations which in 1948 had drawn a crowd of 40,000 people to the small community.
There have been many notable guests during the history of the park. The highest ranking speaker was Vice President Bush. Amongst other notable guest are Nixon, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Walt Disney, Walter Cronkite and Danny Kaye. In addition a lot of Danish members of the royal family and government have participated over the years.
Even if you don’t come on the 4th of July it is still a nice area to visit with the pretty locations in the hills. So a lot of people do come and visit. In addition to the natural beauty there is some man made attractions as well including a copy of Lincolns log cabin.
The festivities has been cancelled for this year due to restrictions on large gatherings and travels – but you can still come and enjoy the area for free if you manage to get within the Danish borders this summer.
FrejaTravels 