The United States Mint will hold the official launch ceremony for the 2018 Apostle Islands National Lakeshore quarter dollar at 10 a.m. Central Time April 11 at the Legendary Waters Resort, 37600 Onigamiing Drive in Red Cliff, Wisconsin.

The 2018 Apostle Islands National Lakeshore quarter dollar reverse was designed by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Artist Richard A. Masters and sculptured by U.S. Mint Sculptor-Engraver Renata Gordon. It depicts the sea caves at Devils Island with the lighthouse in the background and a kayaker paddling in the foreground. 

Following the ceremony, the public may exchange cash for 40-coin, $10 face value rolls of Uncirculated circulation-quality quarter dollars. The sponsoring bank is not yet announced.

At 6 p.m. April 10, the Mint will conduct a coin forum at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, 29270 County Highway G in Ashland, Wisconsin, during which U.S. Mint officials may provide information and attendees provide feedback concerning current and upcoming coin and medal programs.

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore quarter dollar is scheduled for release into general circulation through the Federal Reserve on April 9. The quarter dollar will be the 42nd of an eventual 56 issued under the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.

2018 is the ninth year of the 12-year program. One quarter dollar is being released bearing a reverse design reflecting a national park or historic site in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories — the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, sequenced according to when a site was officially recognized.

The program is scheduled to end in 2021 with release of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site quarter dollar unless by the end of 2018 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin invokes a provision of the enabling legislation permitting a second round of 56 coins over 12 consecutive years beginning in 2021 at the earliest.

Should Mnuchin not invoke that provision, following the conclusion of the current program, the quarter dollar will have an obverse depicting George Washington from sculptor John Flanagan’s portrait of the first president that appeared on the quarter dollar beginning in 1932, and a reverse bearing a rendition of Washington crossing the Delaware River, a theme employed in the design of the New Jersey State quarter dollar in 1999.