WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump, accompanied by a group of fourth-graders from a DC school, participated Thursday in the reopening of the Washington Monument after three years of repairs.
The first lady appeared alongside Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and a group of students from Amidon-Bowen Elementary School. The students squealed at her arrival, and she exchanged high-fives with several of them.
Trump also gave them passes to participate in the “Every Kid Outdoors Program,” which allows the students and their families and friends to visit more than 2,000 federal recreation areas.
“I gave her a hug. And she gave us these cards,” said a 9-year-old named William, who said he was never going to wash his clothes again.
Bernhardt welcomed them to the monument and handed out oversize pairs of scissors to cut the red, white and blue ribbon.
The first lady, dressed in a white sleeveless dress and high heels, stood in the middle of the group, but couldn’t get her scissors to work, eventually giving up and handing them over, along with a big chunk of the red, white and blue ribbon.
FLOTUS didn’t deliver any remarks at the reopening ceremony, but she did take a ceremonial ride to the top of the 555-foot stone obelisk.
The Washington Monument formally reopened to the public at noon.
It was shut down in August 2016 after an elevator cable snapped, but the repairs were more extensive than just fixing the lift on the iconic National Mall structure. The elevator was replaced and security screening upgrades were made to the facility as well. Lighting upgrades to the exterior will debut Thursday night.
“You obviously never want to close an icon like this to the public, and so we would Band-Aid it for years, and that was a very difficult decision that was made three years ago to shut it down and do it correctly,” said Jeffrey Reinbold, superintendent of the National Mall and memorial parks.
Reinbold, who escorted the first lady on a tour, was asked what he wanted to point out to her.
“Maybe the view of her house,” he said, referring to the White House, which sits directly north of the monument.
The first lady previously visited the monument while it was under repair.
It was also closed in 2011 after an earthquake rattled Washington.
During that time, it was covered in scaffolding that was concealed with a blue-gray scrim. Decorative lights were also installed. It reopened in 2014.
More recently, the monument was used as a canvas to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July.
The rocket launch and landing were projected onto its east side facing Capitol Hill.
The Washington Monument’s cornerstone was laid in 1848.
Construction was halted during the Civil War and the government used the grounds around the structure to graze cattle.
In 1876, Congress appropriated $2 million to complete the monument. Workers had to use different-colored stones to complete the project, giving it the two-tone look it has today.
It was finished in 1884 and first opened to the public in 1888.