The post office is closed but is Publix open? Here's what is open, closed on Presidents Day
If you’re a federal employee, you have another holiday heading your way to enjoy and give you a three-day weekend. And as for the rest of us, it means we can't hit up the post office.
Following Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier on Jan. 15, Presidents Day is coming up fast in the middle of February.
Here’s when Presidents Day is and what is actually closed on the holiday:
What day in 2024 is Presidents Day?
Presidents Day 2024 is Monday, Feb. 19.
Is Presidents Day a legal holiday? When was Presidents Day first observed?
“Presidents Day” is actually a nickname for the federally observed holiday held on the third Monday in February to honor the first U.S. president’s birthday and is technically named “Washington’s Birthday.”
Following the death of George Washington in 1799, his Feb. 22 birthday became a day of remembrance.
Washington's Birthday became a legal holiday Jan. 31, 1879, when Congress added Feb. 22 to the list of holidays to be observed by federal employees in the District of Columbia.
The date changed to the third Monday in February with the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and officially took effect in 1971.
Do Floridians get the day off on Presidents Day?
Since Presidents Day is a federal holiday, anyone who works for the federal government or District of Columbia has the day off.
Congress has never declared the day a national holiday. Each state decides its own legal holidays. According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Florida hasn’t added Presidents Day to the list of the state’s legal holidays.
So unlike most holidays, you can still hit your local Publix, Walgreens or Target during the day.
Here's what's closed on Presidents Day 2024:
Mail delivery
Post offices
Banks
Government offices and services
Trash pick-up in certain counties (see guide here)
Certain Florida school districts
Brevard County - Student holiday, hurricane make-up day
Escambia County - closed for students
Contributing reporting: Lianna Norman, USA Today Florida Network
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Presidents Day 2024: When is it and what's closed in Florida?
