San Jacinto Monument
Organizers of the annual Official Observance of San Jacinto Day at San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site in La Porte have cancelled this year’s event because of ongoing cleanup and closures related to the March 17 chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co. in Deer Park. The ceremony, honoring those who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto on the site in 1836, has been an Easter weekend destination for Texans since the monument was dedicated in 1939.
San Jacinto Battle Reenactment
Impacts from the chemical fire also forced the cancellation of the San Jacinto Day Festival & Battle Reenactment on April 13, marking only the second cancellation in that event’s 35-year history.
San Jacinto Museum Director Larry Spasic said the safety of visitors and unknown impacts of chemicals in the ship channel led to the cancellations.
“While the situation is improving, we do not know when conditions will allow for the public to return to this hallowed ground,” Spasic said in a news release. “Our overriding concern is, of course, the safety of our guests, and the participants involved, and the animals used in the re-enactment and our educational venues. Because of the ongoing efforts of the cleanup and pollution of the waterways and grasslands in and around the San Jacinto Site and continuing uncertainties, we feel it is better to act proactively than reactively to these circumstances.”
The San Jacinto Monument, San Jacinto Battleground, San Jacinto Museum of History, and adjacent Battleship Texas remain closed until further notice.
