PORT ANGELES — Thirty-five million Olympic National Park quarters are headed for American pockets, purses and piggy banks.
The park and the U.S. Mint unveiled the new coins before a crowd of nearly 1,000 Tuesday at the Port Angeles City Pier.
The quarter features a Roosevelt elk standing on a gravel river bar of the Hoh River with a view of Mount Olympus in the background.
“This is so special,” said Mike Gregoire, husband of Gov. Chris Gregoire.
“What a true honor it is for me to be here representing the governor.”
The Olympic National Park coin is No. 8 in a series of 56 that honors national parks and other national sites in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. Five coins are released every year.
The Federal Reserve Bank released the Olympic National Park quarters into circulation Monday.
“I am amazed by the biodiversity and beauty of the Olympic National Park, with three distinct ecosystems, a million acres of mountains, glaciers, rain forests, meadows and lakes, and 70 miles of Pacific Ocean beaches,” said B.B. Craig, U.S. Mint associate director for sales and marketing.
“There’s really no other place like it in America.
“The Olympic National Park quarter will connect America to one of the nation’s natural treasures.”
After the ceremony, Mike Gregoire, Craig and Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin distributed some 600 souvenir quarters to Port Angeles schoolchildren, who attended the ceremony on a field trip.
“Last week at school — so this is pretty fun to be able to go on a field trip and get some money to do it,” Gustin said.
Gustin said the coin is important to the park because it was one of the first to be released in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.
“Quarters are small. They’re worth a little bit of money, and you can pass them on to friends and trade and collect them,” Gustin said.
“They’re fun things to hang on to — to remember experiences that you’ve had here in town, at your school or at the park.”
The U.S. Mint provided teacher lesson plans for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program to “inspire interest in the conservation, geography, heritage and natural beauty of our national parks,” Craig said.
Mike Gregoire presented a “Quarter Day in the Classroom” proclamation from the governor, who was in Washington, D.C.
“This is what we call the better Washington,” said Mike Gregoire, who grew up in Everett and explored Olympic National Park in his youth.
Hundreds lined up to exchange cash for $10 rolls of the new quarters after the ceremony.
First Federal employees handled the coin exchange.
“We were very honored that Olympic National Park chose us as the bank to participate in this event,” said Dawnya Textor, First Federal spokeswoman.
Textor estimated that $20,000 was exchanged for the quarters.
First Federal has a supply of the new quarters for anyone who wants one.
“We have them in any denomination at all of our branches,” Textor said.
Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce Events Director and Webmaster Vanessa Fuller filled in for the scheduled emcee, Seattle TV meteorologist Jeff Renner, who missed a ferry.
“We’re all going to have to give him a little trouble,” Fuller joked.
Dave Reynolds, Olympic National Park spokesman and event organizer, thanked Fuller for stepping in.
“I thought she did a great job,” he said.
The ceremony featured a color guard from Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles.
Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe performed a welcome song.
A jazz band from Stevens Middle School performed.
“I think everyone was pleased,” Reynolds said of the half-hour ceremony.
“I think it was good for the whole community and good for the park.”
Olympic National Park is distributing the quarters as change at its entrance stations.
The coins may also be purchased online through the U.S. Mint at http://tinyurl.com/5smk4.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com
