After days of flip-flopping and backlash from community members, National Park Service officials made the official decision to close Dupont Circle Park through WorldPride festivities this weekend.
Kevin Griess, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Park, said the closure will run until 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The closure, which went into effect at 6 p.m. Thursday, came at the request of the U.S. Park Police.
“In USPP’s 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,” Griess said in the filing.
“The USPP has concluded that this temporary closure is necessary to ‘secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.'”
The superintendent further said the momentary closure “will not adversely affect the park’s natural, aesthetic or cultural values and is not of a highly controversial nature, as evidenced by the lack of any requests to utilize the area to be closed.”
None of the nearby parks are affected by the order.
Park Police submitted its closure request on Wednesday, one day after D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith had rescinded her initial April 22 call for the park to be fully closed and cordoned off with anti-scale fencing through Monday.
Smith pulled her request after backlash from community members and politicians, including Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto.
Crime takes center stage
Underscoring their desire to implement the closure, USPP highlighted criminal incidents that were initially pointed out in Smith’s April 22 letter. Those incidents, which took place during the District’s Pride celebration, included damages to the park’s historic fountain in 2023 that amounted to approximately $175,000.
In 2019, panic erupted at the park after loud popping sounds were perceived as gunshots being fired. However, it was later determined no firearm had been discharged. Seven people were transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries prompted by the chaos that had initially broken out.
In an incident that occurred last year, a large group of young people engaged in “unpermitted” behavior — which ranged from drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at the park to running into local stores and stealing.
Another concern for law enforcement is an advertisement from a local disc jockey selling tickets to an unsanctioned show at Dupont Circle Park. According to USPP, the same show has prompted “unsafe conditions and damages” over a period of several years.
Community reaction
Ward 5 Council member Zachary Parker was among the first to react to the sudden changes on Friday, calling the move “entirely unnecessary and infuriating situation.”
“The National Park Service’s citation that this closure will not result in a ‘significant alteration in the public use pattern’ and suggestion that WorldPride attendees can use other parks misses the significance of *this* park,” Parker wrote in a post on X.
Pinto has since chimed in, saying, “This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate WorldPride at this iconic symbol of our city’s historic LGBTQ+ community. I wish I had better news to share.”
Earlier in the week, outrage had also been voiced by Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jeff Rueckgauer when reports first surfaced about the park’s looming closure.
At the time, Rueckgauer said he and his partners were “taken aback,” and were feeling betrayed, especially by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office.
“The mayor certainly knew about this, that didn’t just happen overnight,” Rueckgauer said earlier this week. “It obviously had been in the mix for at least a few days, if not a few weeks.”
He added that the city and federal government should remain “actually responsive, open, transparent” if it intends to be an ally of the “gay community, or just any community.”
Bowser has yet to comment on the latest developments on the closure front.
Editor’s note: National Park Service made the decision to close the park. This story has been corrected.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
