Yellowstone National Park celebrated the Park Service’s centennial anniversary last week, though both fire and ice hindered some travel in and around the park.

About 6,000 people gathered in Gardiner, Montana, on Thursday to mark the National Park Service’s 100th birthday with a full night of speeches and singing.

Speaking below the Roosevelt Arch outside Yellowstone’s North Entrance, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said all Americans deserve the chance to experience their national parks.

Singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris performed and she and other musicians later filled the stage to sing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” as the crowd sang along.

Musician John Prine sang “Paradise” in honor of his father, who took him to state and national parks when he was a child.

Illustrating the continuing wildness of the park, a wildfire and a summer snowstorm forced some Yellowstone visitors to change their travel plans.

Authorities closed a portion of the Beartooth Highway outside the park’s Northeast Entrance Wednesday night because of snow and ice, though the road reopened Thursday morning.

At the other end of the park, a portion of the road leading to Yellowstone’s South Entrance remained closed because of the Berry Fire burning in Grand Teton National Park.

Visitors from the south heading to Thursday’s celebration and concert at the Roosevelt Arch faced an hour-long detour into Idaho. Park managers hoped to reopen the road sometime today (Tuesday). (See related story on Page 7 of today's Powell Tribune.)

Despite the smoky skies, love was also in the air during last week’s centennial celebration.

Joe Eicher said he had been carrying an engagement ring in his pocket for a month and proposed to Theresa Holloway during a hike to a cliff overlooking Mammoth Hot Springs.

celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding

of the National Park Service.

The Livonia, Michigan, couple drove 26 hours to Yellowstone, which Holloway described as breathtaking and surreal.

The National Park Service celebrated its centennial with events all across the United States.

In the nation’s capital, more than 1,000 kids and adults used brown, green and white umbrellas to create a living version of the Park Service emblem on the National Mall.

Dozens of people became U.S. citizens in naturalization ceremonies held at national parks and historic sites — including one held on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Also on Thursday, the Park Service’s newest national monument prepared to welcome its first visitors. Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine features views of Mount Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine.

The Park Service offered free admission to all its sites through the weekend.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, reflected on Yellowstone last week, calling the park “a place of wonder for me almost my entire life.”

Growing up in Wyoming, Enzi visited the park with his grandparents, who stayed in Yellowstone almost the whole season, he said.

“As I grew older and had my own family, Yellowstone continued to play an important role in my life,” he wrote in a post last week. “It helped create some of my favorite memories and some traditions. I check on the Park every year.”

Enzi visited Yellowstone earlier this month and posted pictures highlighting the park’s beauty and wonder.

“It is important that we are able to keep the park open and accessible for all those who visit,” Enzi wrote.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)