What’s Open, Closed On Presidents Day 2020 In Manassas

MANASSAS, VA — Presidents Day will be Monday, and a variety of services will be closed in Manassas and Prince William County on the day. In Virginia, though, the official state holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February is still named George Washington Day or George Washington's Birthday.

The holiday, which was originally established in 1885 to honor President George Washington, will provide a much-appreciated three-day weekend for many. But it also means that services such as the U.S. Post Office, banks and most public schools will not open on the day.

Here's a breakdown of how the holiday could affect your routine:

Prince William County government offices: Open Feb. 17.

Manassas City government offices: Closed Feb. 17.

State courts: Circuit Court, General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court are closed Feb. 17.

Prince William County Public Schools: Closed Feb. 17.

Prince William County Public Library: All county libraries are open Feb. 17.

Post offices: Closed Feb. 17.

OmniRide: OmniRide Express buses do not operate on Feb. 17, but all other OmniRide buses (including OmniRide Metro Express, OmniRide Local and OmniRide East-West Express) will operate on regular service.

VRE: Closed Feb. 17.

Parking: Parking restrictions in downtown Manassas will be enforced Feb. 17. Although there is no charge for street parking in downtown Manassas, all public parking is in timed areas.

City of Manassas trash & recycling: There is no change to the city of Manassas's trash collection on Feb. 17.

The transition in the holiday's name from Washington's Birthday to Presidents Day began in the late 1960s as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The bill proposed that the country celebrate holidays on Monday rather than when birthdays fell on the calendar so workers could have a three-day weekend.

During the debate of that bill, it was proposed that Washington's Birthday be renamed Presidents Day to celebrate the birthdays of both Washington on Feb. 22 and President Abraham Lincoln's birthday on Feb. 12.

Congress actually rejected the name change in the 1968 version of the bill. However, after the bill went into effect in 1971, Presidents Day became the commonly accepted name.

According to the operators of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Fairfax County, the U.S. government never officially changed the name. In the 1980s, owing to advertising campaigns for holiday sales, the term became popularized and largely accepted.

"This joint recognition would also celebrate President Lincoln's February 12 birthday within the same period," the Mount Vernon website says, "but arguably, George Washington (the Father of our country) deserves his own day."