Community Corner
Presidents Day Weekend: What's Open, What's Closed
Government offices at all levels and the town library are closed; the YMCA is open. As for the state DMV, well, it's complicated.
Presidents' Day or Washington's Birthday is observed on Feb. 17, the third Monday of the month, by most governments, banks, schools and other public institutions.
Presidents' Day is an unofficial name for the Washington's Birthday federal holiday and it's also popularly written without the apostrophe, but either way is considered acceptable by most dictionaries, even while the apostrophe version is used more by authoritative writers.
Washington's actual birthday Feb. 22 (the date he himself celebrated after the British calendar was changed during his lifetime), is actually never officially observed as a holiday because the third Monday of the month never falls later than Feb. 21.
Here's what's open and what's closed in New Canaan and beyond for Presidents' Day weekend, 2014:
Department of Motor Vehicles
Holiday schedule for major service centers, including the Norwalk Office:
- Friday: Norwalk Office is open from 7:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (unless it closes due to the snow)
- Saturday: Norwalk Office is closed
- Monday: The department is normally closed.
- Tuesday: The department reopens for business with normal business hours of 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Monday, Presidents' Day
OPEN:
- Banks in Connecticut have the option of opening or closing. According to state policy: "Connecticut banks and credit unions are required to give at least two weeks’ advance notice to their customers of holiday openings and closings by posting such notice in the lobby of each office." TD Bank, as usual, is open.
CLOSED:
- New Canaan Public Schools (school calendar) — schools are closed all week for the February break and reopen Monday, Feb. 24.
- New Canaan Town Hall (but the town Transfer Statiion is open)
- Connecticut state government offices (including state courts)
- The New York Stock Exchange and much of the financial industry
TRANSPORTATION:
Metro-North has announced: "On Presidents' Day, Monday, Feb. 17, Metro-North will operate on a Saturday schedule. The Hudson Rail Link and Newburgh-Beacon and Haverstraw-Ossining ferries will not operate. Grand Central North's exits at 46th-48th Streets will be closed."
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