Cambridge's Indigenous Peoples' Day: What To Know

CAMBRIDGE, MA — In observance of the Indigenous Peoples' Day Holiday on Oct. 12, parking around the city is free, and there will be no trash, recycling, or compost pickup, and no street cleaning.

In 2016 the Cambridge City Council voted unanimously to change Christopher Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day.

City Councilor Mazen, who proposed the change that year, said at the time the move was intended to reclaim the day for Native Americans killed after Columbus's landing in the Americas.
"It is important to reclaim the day for Native Americans, thousands of whom were killed under Columbus's leadership when he came to the New World," he said, Patch previously reported.

The holiday recognizes Native Americans instead of Christopher Columbus, who activists say represents the colonization of America instead of its discovery.

The celebration made the mainstream in Berkeley, California in 1992 and has spread since, seeing a steady resurgence since 2014.

Around Cambridge:

City offices— open by appointment only for the time being — will be closed for the holiday.

Most city services can be provided online or over the telephone during normal City business hours.

The trash, recycling, and compost daily pickup routes for the week of Oct. 12 will be one day behind. Regularly scheduled street cleaning routes for Oct. 12 were previously swept.

The offices at Cambridge Cemetery, 76 Coolidge Ave., will be closed on the holiday, however the gates will be open from dawn to dusk.

Trash and recycling schedules and routes can be found at: CambridgeMa.gov/trash.

Street cleaning schedules and routes can be found at: Cambridgema.gov/streetcleaning.

Cambridge Changes Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples