MLK Day 2020: Here’s What’s Open, Closed In Bel Air

BEL AIR, MD — Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on Monday, Jan. 20 this year, and a variety of offices and services will be closed and unavailable in Bel Air for the holiday.

King’s birthday is Jan. 15, but the federal holiday celebrating the civil rights leader is observed on the third Monday of January each year.

Here’s a breakdown of how the holiday could impact your routine.

• Town of Bel Air offices: Closed
• Harford County Government offices: Closed
• Harford County Public Library: Closed
• Harford County Public Schools: Closed
• Post Offices: Closed
• Courts: Closed
• The Bel Air Town Commissioners meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21. Usually it is planned for Monday.

Trash and recycling:

• Since Monday is a town holiday, trash will not be picked up then. Collection will take place Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The history of the MLK holiday in America is a complicated one.

Almost immediately after King’s assassination in 1968, activists began pushing for a holiday celebrating his Jan. 15 birthday. However, the official national holiday wasn’t signed into law until 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.

The first federal MLK Day was observed on the third Monday of January in 1986, but many states held out. Arizona didn’t recognize the day until 1992, when the state lost its rights to host the Super Bowl after voters in Arizona failed to make the day a paid holiday.

The last state to adopt the holiday? New Hampshire, in 1999.

— By Gus Saltonstall and Elizabeth Janney