Coeur d'Alene to host National Day of Prayer at McEuen Park

Coeur d’Alene’s McEuen Park is set to become a public stage for faith and civic ritual Thursday, when the Kootenai County Ministerial Association brings back the National Day of Prayer observance near the Veteran’s Memorial.

The gathering will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is expected to include local worship pastors, brief scripture readings and short prayers led by local pastors. The National Day of Prayer Task Force says the 2026 observance is the 75th annual event and comes during America’s 250th anniversary year, adding national symbolism to a gathering rooted in a downtown Coeur d’Alene park.

This year’s theme, “Glorify God Among the Nations, Seeking Him in All Generations,” comes from 1 Chronicles 16:24, according to the task force. In Idaho, the observance is listed at McEuen Park near the Veteran’s Memorial, underscoring the event’s public setting in one of the city’s most visible gathering places.

The local program will open with music and readings from the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution before the main prayer service begins at noon. The task force says the observance is meant to mobilize unified public prayer across the country, and the Coeur d’Alene event reflects that approach by bringing clergy, church leaders and residents into the same space for a structured, public ceremony.

Pastor Paul Van Noy of Candlelight Christian Fellowship has encouraged people to join together in prayer for the community, the nation and its leaders. That message fits the event’s civic tone, which is less about a private worship service than a visible expression of faith in the center of town.

The turnout has been substantial in recent years. About 600 people attended last year’s National Day of Prayer gathering at McEuen Park, according to a 2025 Coeur d’Alene Press report, which described it as the 74th annual local observance. That kind of attendance suggests the event has become a familiar fixture in Kootenai County, drawing a crowd large enough to be part rally, part worship service and part public statement about how faith still occupies a prominent place in Coeur d’Alene’s community life.