​Presidents Day 2022: What's Open, What's Closed, What It's About

ACROSS AMERICA — Banks, post offices and other services will be closed Monday, Feb.21, for Presidents Day, a holiday established by Congress decades ago to move the celebration of George Washington’s birthday to the third Monday of February every year. Millions of Americans have the day off, and retailers are ready with Presidents Day deals and sales.

Presidents Day doesn’t officially include Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, which was celebrated by a handful of states.

The 16th U.S. president was born in 1809 in LaRue County, Kentucky, though his birth state isn’t one of the five — Lincoln’s adopted state of Illinois plus California, Connecticut, Missouri and New York — that observe his birthday as a holiday.

In the public consciousness, though, Lincoln’s birthday is spun in with that of the first U.S. president, George Washington, and is observed on the third Monday in February. This year, that’s on Feb. 21.

Technically, though, the holiday observed on the third Monday of February commemorates Washington’s birth on Feb. 22, 1732.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 doesn’t mention Lincoln’s birthday, or even Presidents Day. Some lawmakers argued during debate that Washington’s birthday should be renamed Presidents Day to include Lincoln, but Congress rejected that.

Before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971, Washington’s birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of his birth regardless of the day of the week.

A few of the services that will be closed Monday for Presidents Day include:

The Federal Reserve system won’t be operating, so that means most banks will be closed. ATMs will operate as usual.

The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and bond markets will be closed. So will the U.S. Postal Service.

Courts, village, town and city halls and non-essential government offices will be closed in most cases. So will local Department of Motor Vehicle offices.

Many schools will be closed, but that’s usually a local decision. Trash pickup schedules are also set locally, so check with your local government.