Rebild National Park (Danish: Rebild Bakker) is a protected site located in Rebild municipality in Region Nordjylland in Denmark. It is situated in the geographic region of the Jutland peninsula known as Himmerland.[1] The Rebild Festival is held in the national park every 4th of July.
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The founder was Dr. Max Henius, a Danish-American who emigrated to the United States in 1881 and settled in Chicago. In 1911, almost 200 acres (0.81 km2) of hilly land were bought with funds raised by Danish Americans. In 1912, Max Henius presented the deed to the land to his Majesty King Christian X as a permanent memorial to Danish Americans. Later the Danish government added to the land that now features a beautiful natural park.[2]
The first Rebild Festival took place in 1912, when King Christian X spoke to a crowd of 10,000. The day has been celebrated every single year since then, with the exception of the periods during World War I and World War II. American sculptor Georg J. Lober created an emblem for the Danish National Park in Rebild in 1912. He also made a bronze relief of Abraham Lincoln that is located in Rebild Park.[3]
The park was given to the Danish state as a present with three conditions:
Rebild National Park is the site of what is commonly believed to be the largest annual 4th of July celebration held outside the United States. Since 1912, The Rebild National Park Society Inc., a Danish-American friendship organization, has held a July 4th weekend festival that serves as a homecoming for Danish-Americans. This has helped make Rebild Park one of Denmark's major tourist attractions.
The Rebild Festival traditionally features the hoisting of the U.S. and Danish flags while the two countries' national anthems echo in the surrounding hills. The annual 4th of July celebration was the subject of the television documentary Rebildfest 1990, which featured actor Richard Chamberlain.[4] [5][6]