Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2021: What’s open, what’s closed

Whether you call it Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, D.C.-area residents should be aware of some holiday closures that could impact their Monday.

As a federal holiday, federal government offices are closed, along with many local jurisdictions’ offices.

Some closures are region-wide. For example, all Virginia and D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles locations and all Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration locations are closed Monday.

Most delays, cancellations and other modifications — such as Virginia ABC stores keeping regular hours — are region-specific or vary by county.

WTOP has everything you need to know below.

Public transit

Metrobus and Metrorail will run on a Saturday supplemental schedule.

All three lines of MARC trains will operate on an “R” schedule with reduced service, but all VRE rail service is canceled.

The Maryland Transmit Administration’s operations vary in whether they’re open, modified or closed; these changes can be found online.

Other public transit information is included below.

D.C. 

The District’s COVID-19 public testing sites and call center are closed.

While D.C. Public Library neighborhood locations and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library are closed, libraries are still hosting virtual programming.

Community centers are closed.

Some of the District’s libraries are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — Anacostia Library, Benning Library, Mt. Pleasant Library, Petworth Library, Southwest, Tenley Library, Woodridge Library and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

Monday is a holiday for students, teachers and staff at D.C. Public Schools according to the calendar online.

D.C. Streetcar is running on its usual schedule.

Some D.C. Circulator routes — Union Station-Georgetown, Rosslyn-Dupont Circle and Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Square — will operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. All other routes on the D.C. Circulator will run from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Ticketing and towing for most parking violations is suspended, although tickets for safety violations will continue.

Maryland

Montgomery County

The circuit court will be closed.

The county’s public schools will hold classes Monday. The public libraries will also be open.

Shady Grove Transfer Station is open and the county trash collection is operating on a normal schedule.

RideOn buses are operating under their normal weekday schedule.

Prince George’s County

All county offices are closed, excluding public safety offices.

Students don’t have class because of parent-teacher conferences.

The county isn’t offering bulky trash collection.

TheBus is running except for Route51X.

The county has testing and vaccination clinics open.

Anne Arundel County

Although the county recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a holiday, government offices are open.

Regular trash collection will proceed.

The public library is open.

The public schools are open.

Some vaccine clinics are administering shots Monday.

Charles County

All county offices are closed.

Public school students have the day off.

The aquatic center is open 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for open swim, while all school-based community centers, senior centers and other community places remain closed because of COVID-19.

Trash collection will not be affected.

Virginia

Alexandria

All city offices are closed and several neighborhood centers are either closed or have reduced hours.

In-person absentee voting is closed.

Trash/recycling collections are delayed by one day.

DASH Buses are operating on a Saturday service schedule.

Parking tickets will be suspended at metered and residential spaces; parking that is typically prohibited such as handicap spaces or loading zones will still be restricted.

Students in the city’s public schools won’t have classes; it’s a professional learning day.

All library branches are closed.

Chinquapin Park Recreation Center & Aquatics Facility, along with the Charles Houston and Patrick Henry Recreation Centers, will be open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but all other recreation or nature centers are closed.

All museums are closed in Historic Alexandria except for the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum.

Arlington County

Most Arlington Transit routes are closed, with the exception of routes 42, 45, 51, 55, 77 and 87, which will run on Saturday schedules.

Parking meters won’t be enforced, but all other parking violations will be.

The public schools will not hold classes; it’s a professional learning day for staff.

Government offices and the public library are open.

Prince William County

Omni Ride Express buses don’t run on Monday, but all other Omni Ride Buses run as normal.

Students have school off but teachers are participating in a professional learning day.

Government agencies are open.

The public library is open.

Loudoun County

People who use Loudoun Country Bus service may be affected by a number of a holiday cancellations.

On Monday, there will be no commuter bus service or metro connection bus service, and the Loudoun County Courthouse Shuttle won’t operate. Local fixed route bus service will run on its regular schedule.

In observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, public schools are closed.

All public library branches are closed.

Fairfax County

A number of Fairfax Connector Routes won’t run — 231, 232, 335, 393, 394, 395, 396, 432, 461, 494, 495, 556, 585, 599, 624, 634, 697, 698, 699, 715, 722, 724 834, 835 and 985.

Route 980 will run on a reduced schedule, arriving every 12 to 15 minutes instead of every six to eight minutes.

Any other Fairfax Connector Route will run as usual.

CUE Buses will operate under their regular schedule.

Students won’t have class. It’s listed as a “school planning day.”

The public library is open.

County trash pickup will happen as normally scheduled.

Jessica Kronzer

Jessica Kronzer graduated from James Madison University in May 2021 after studying media and politics. She enjoys covering politics, advocacy and compelling human-interest stories.

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