Fort will waive fees on 16 days in 2016

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is among the national parks that will waive entrance fees on 16 days in 2016.

They include four free days celebrating the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, from Thursday, Aug. 25, through Sunday, Aug. 28.

The free days are:

• Jan. 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• April 16 through April 24: National Park Week.

• Aug. 25 through Aug. 28: National Park Service Birthday.

• Sept. 24: National Public Lands Day.

• Nov. 11: Veterans Day.

Normally, admission to the reconstructed fort is $5 for visitors 16 and older; those 15 and younger are free.

Fourth-graders who complete an online activity also can get their families into Fort Vancouver National Historic Site through a program called Every Kid in a Park. Fourth-graders can go to www.everykidinapark.gov to complete an activity and obtain a free pass that admits their family, including up to three accompanying adults. The printed-out passes, which must be presented at the gate, will be valid through Aug. 31.

Entrance to all other attractions at Fort Vancouver, including the renovated Visitor Center, 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd., and Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E. Fifth St., are free; their schedules follow park hours.

In another scheduling note, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site now is operating on its five-days-a-week winter schedule: It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and is closed Sundays and Mondays. (The park grounds will remain open seven days a week from dawn until dusk.)

Fort Vancouver will resume its seven-days-a-week operation when it returns to its summer schedule, tentatively when daylight saving time returns on March 13.