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.
In a proclamation issued Oct. 9, President Donald Trump said, “Today our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus — the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory.”
The president said Columbus in recent years as been “a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.” Read the full proclamation on the White House website.
Trump has long complained that Columbus is being mistreated as his legacy is reevaluated. After signing the Columbus Day proclamation in the Oval Office last week, he said, “Columbus Day. We’re back, Italians. We love the Italians.”
In April, Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that he would “bring Columbus Day back from the ashes.” He wrote, “I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”
The Columbus Day holiday has been criticized by people who view the arrival of Columbus as ushering in European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere, eventually leading to the decimation of indigenous peoples in the Americas.
President Joe Biden in 2021 issued the first-ever presidential proclamation commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day. But Biden did not cancel Columbus Day or change the name of the holiday. He also issued Columbus Day proclamations in every year of his term, as had each of his predecessors in office since President Franklin Roosevelt designated Columbus Day as a federal holiday in 1934. It was made a permanent federal holiday in 1971.
Columbus Day: Closings and schedule changes today
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:
- most retail stores, grocery stores and restaurants
- New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ
- UPS and FedEx
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