What’s open, closed on Presidents Day
Photo credit: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.
If you were sleeping late Monday morning you may have been among those affected by the designation of today, Presidents Day, as a holiday. Some services are closed to mark the federal holiday, while others are maintaining normal operations.
Most governmental offices are closed Monday to mark the day. The DeSoto County Board of Supervisors typically meets on Monday, but will meet Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. because of Presidents Day. Emergency services remain available and garbage collection maintains its normal operations this week.
U.S. Post Offices are closed and mail won’t be delivered, but UPS (UPS), FedEx (FDX) Ground and FedEx (FDX) Home Delivery will be operating as usual. Schools, including DeSoto County Schools and Northpoint Christian School, are not in session today, as is Northwest DeSoto Center and all Northwest Mississippi Community College campuses.
Most financial institutions, banks and credit unions, also are closed Monday for the federal holiday, as Presidents Day is a bank holiday in the Federal Reserve system.
Most stores and restaurants are open but some may revise hours for the day.
Although Presidents Day never falls on his birthday, the day is officially known as Washington’s Birthday, remembering the birth of the nation’s first President George Washington, born on Feb. 22. The observance always falls on the third Monday in February, fitting itself between Washington’s Birthday and that of President Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12.
Neither Congress nor the President has ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington’s Birthday be changed to Presidents’ Day.
In 1968, Rep. Robert McClory attempted to change “Washington’s Birthday” to “Presidents’ Day,” but the idea wasn’t accepted. The observance was, however, changed to the third Monday in February as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill. This bill moved the observance of Washington’s birthday from Feb. 22 to the third Monday in February, starting in 1971.
