Presidents Day 2022:What’s Open, Closed In Edison, Metuchen

EDISON, NJ — Celebrated on the third Monday of February, President's Day is a federal holiday. That means many services are expected to shut shop in observance of this year's holiday on Feb. 21.

In Edison and Metuchen, all public offices will be closed on Monday. The public library will also be closed.

Local banks and post offices will also be closed Monday. The Federal Reserve system won’t be operating, so that means most banks will be closed. ATMs will operate as usual.

The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and bond markets will be closed.

But if you want to indulge in some retail therapy, head to the Menlo Park Mall which will be open on Monday. Many stores like Vera Bradley, Lovesac, and Michael Kors are offering Presidents' Day discounts.

The holiday was established by Congress decades ago to move the celebration of George Washington’s birthday to the third Monday of February every year. Presidents Day doesn’t officially include Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, which was celebrated by a handful of states.

The 16th U.S. president was born in 1809 in LaRue County, Kentucky, though his birth state isn’t one of the five — Lincoln’s adopted state of Illinois plus California, Connecticut, Missouri and New York — that observe his birthday as a holiday.

In the public consciousness, though, Lincoln’s birthday is spun in with that of the first U.S. president, George Washington, and is observed on the third Monday in February. This year, that’s on Feb. 21.

Technically, though, the holiday observed on the third Monday of February commemorates Washington’s birth on Feb. 22, 1732.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 doesn’t mention Lincoln’s birthday, or even Presidents Day. Some lawmakers argued during debate that Washington’s birthday should be renamed Presidents Day to include Lincoln, but Congress rejected that.

Before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971, Washington’s birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of his birth regardless of the day of the week.