The National Park Service will celebrate its 99th birthday next week at the oldest unit in the U.S. — Hot Springs National Park.
A celebration, complete with a birthday cake, will be held from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday at the Ozark Bathhouse Cultural Center, 425 Central Ave., in Hot Springs.
The event, which will allow visitors to view art and discuss the park's upcoming centennial celebration, is open to the public.
"We want our festivities in 2016 to be a year-round effort involving all sectors of the community in whatever way possible to acknowledge what it means to have a national park in our backyards," Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez said in a statement.
Hot Springs National Park was protected at the federal level as a reservation in April 1832 and was changed to a national park in March 1921, five years after the creation of the National Park Service.
The national park said it brought in a cumulative economic benefit of $111.4 million to the local economy last year.