Coin collectors should head down to Homestead December 4 if they want to get their hands on the latest quarter honoring one of Florida’s most precious gems. A new 25-cent piece is being released honoring the Everglades.
The quarter features an anhinga with outstretched wings and a roseate spoonbill. Despite the stretch of I-75 that crosses through the Everglades from Naples to Ft. Lauderdale being nicknamed “Alligator Alley” there is no alligator on the new coin.
The coin release is part of a 12-year United States Mint initiative called America the Beautiful Program. The Everglades quarter is the twenty-fifth release out of the 56 national parks and other sites that will be honored throughout the program. Each year the mint issues five new commemorative coins in the order in which the national sites were established.
Ten-dollar rolls of the new coins can be purchased during the release at Harris Field Park Pavilion in Homestead. The evening before the release at 6:30 the United States Mint will host a public forum at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center in Everglades National Park where individuals can contribute ideas for future special coins. Officials from the mint will also provide information about future programs and initiatives.
The coin honoring Everglades National Park is the 25th release in the United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, a 12-year initiative to honor 56 national parks and other national sites authorized by Public Law 110-456. Each year, the public will see five new national sites depicted on the reverse (tails side) of the America the Beautiful Quarters. The United States Mint is issuing these quarters in the order in which the national sites were officially established.
