President's Day in Marion: What's Open and What's Closed?

Maybe it's because the U.S. is a republic and not a monarchy, but President's Day is a holiday that doesn't quite get the same amount of respect and closings as Veteran's Day or Independence Day.

That's why I've compiled a list of what is open and what is closed on President's Day. Additionally, I've left a suggestion of my own on how you can celebrate this holiday.

Open

The Marion Public Library will be open on Monday. The library will be hosting their Read to Lead book reading club at noon, this time, discussing the second and third chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.

The Marion Independent School District. It seems that the snowfall we all enjoyed so greatly has an extra reward: School on a holiday. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the district has to make up the days lost due to snow, so Monday is a day on for students in the district.

Trash collection will continue on Monday.

Closed

Linn-Mar School District. It's unfair Marion Independent students, I know, but there will be no class for Linn-Mar schools on Monday. Linn-Mar students: Enjoy your day off twice as hard for your Marion Independent counterparts.

Marion Post Office. You'll have to leave sending those letters and packages on your to-do list for one more day, as the Marion branch of the U.S. Post Office will be closed. If you have a loved one far away with a birthday coming up, this is a good excuse to use for when they ask you why their present came late.

Most banks. According to a story from the Des Moines Register, 87 percent of banks will be closed Monday. Good thing ATMs are heartless robots and don't need time off, unlike the rest of us.

Any Presidents Day Events?

Nope, sorry. After some extensive searching I've come up with nothing specific to the holiday going on in Marion. If you know of something, feel free to leave some info in the comments or email me by clicking on my byline. If you still want to celebrate the holiday, however, I have a suggestion.

Gather your friends, a laptop and go to this site, which has a children's game for identifying presidents by their picture and a clue. It starts off easy, but it gets hard fast. Pass the laptop around and try to correctly identify the president pictured. You get one guess and a total of three lifelines (from the original season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire).

For children, this holiday is for you more than anyone else. You can probably beat my pants off at the aforementioned children's game because you have been in school for most of your life learning about these guys. So do whatever you want, related to President's Day or not. You've earned this.