The National Park Service and the US Park Police announced that they will close Dupont Circle Park between 5 AM Friday and 6 PM Sunday, a window that coincides with multiple celebrations during WorldPride, including DC’s Pride Parade.
The decision follows a roller coaster of events. NPS announced plans to close the park on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning the Washington Post reported that the Park Service had canceled plans to close the park, citing a tweet from DC Councilmember Zachary Parker. Documents showed that the DC police requested the closure, then rescinded the request.
But strangely, from my perspective as an appreciator of local Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterst’s sterling record of responsiveness to even my dumbest emails, the Park Service remained silent during my many attempts to confirm whether NPS would honor the cops’ second request. On Friday morning, Litterst sent a “Record of Determination” that includes documents that show why the agencies say they decided to close the park anyway. No statement accompanied the email.
The Park Police say that in their “professional opinion this closure is necessary for the maintenance of public health and safety and protection of natural and cultural resources in Dupont Circle Park,” citing “multiple instances of damage to park resources” in 2019, 2023, and 2024, the same years cited by the DC cops in their letters, according to a letter from National Mall and Memorials Park Superintendent Kevin Griess. (The cops only sent Washingtonian Chief Pamela Smith’s rescission request this week; NPS helpfully included the police’s earlier letter, dated April 22, which asked for the closure.)
According to a letter from Major Frank Hilsher of the Park Police’s Icon Protection Branch, Smith’s subsequent request “does not provide any remedy or solutions to the significant amount of criminal activity and resource destruction that has historically been committed in Dupont Circle Park during DC Pride weekend, or the large strain on law enforcement resources that would be remedied by a park closure with anti-scale fence.” Holster writes, “I continue to completely concur with Chief Smith’s first assessment.”
Hilsher writes that according to open-source intelligence, the Park Police have “identified a local DJ advertising and selling tickets to an unpermitted gathering/party in Dupont Circle following World Pride events.” He continues:
This event is not sanctioned by the official World Pride organization and has not separately applied for a permit that would enable the NPS to manage the event in such a way that it protects attendees, bystanders, and the cultural resources in Dupont Circle. This social media advertisement is stating that this is the same DJ and “party” as the previous several years, which have resulted in the unsafe conditions and damages recounted above.
The Park Service has traditionally taken a lenient stance toward what it calls “First Amendment activities” in the area, and often writes permits on the spot for unpermitted demonstrations. In response to the threat of such a party, anti-scale fencing will surround the park all weekend. You can read the Park Service’s documents below.
Dupont Circle Record of Determination 06.05.25 by Washingtonian Magazine on Scribd
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
