Columbus Day holiday closings and schedules

Today is Columbus Day, a federal holiday commemorating the arrival of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492. The day was established as a federal holiday by an act of Congress in 1934. In 1971, with the federal Monday Holiday Act, the observance of the holiday was changed to the second Monday in October.

Riverhead municipal trash pickup follows its regular schedule today.

LIRR trains operate on a regular weekday schedule.

Suffolk County Transit buses operate today. Buses on Route 92 operate on a weekend schedule. See individual route timetables for changes.

Here’s what’s closed today:

• all government offices and courts
• schools.
• the post office — no mail delivery (except Express Mail)
• most banks
• Riverhead Free Library

What’s open:

• New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ
• UPS and FedEx
• most retail stores, grocery stores and restaurants

Observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is observed on this day, honoring the Indigenous peoples of America, who lived here long before Europeans sailed to this continent — some for thousands of years.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day began as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day and, though it the holiday traces its roots to a United Nations conference in 1977, it was first designated an official holiday in Berkeley, California in 1992 — the year that marked the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas.

Indigenous Peoples Day honors Native American peoples and their histories and cultures.

President Joe Biden in 2021 issued the first-ever presidential proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Before that, many U.S. states and cities observed Indigenous Peoples’ Day, with some states establishing it as an official holiday. It is not an official holiday in New York State.