Because Veterans Day falls on a Saturday this year, the federal holiday is this Friday, November 10th. On that day, the following facilities are closed in Southborough: public schools, Town offices, the Southborough Library, and the Senior Center.
On Saturday, the Library will again be closed, as will the Transfer Station.
As for our Town’s observance of the holiday, it will take place on the actual day of remembrance, Saturday, “The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”.
Following tradition, the Veterans Day ceremony is held at the All Wars Memorial on the Common. The 30-40 minute ceremony remembers our fallen and honors those who serve today and all those who have served our nation. It includes readings and patriotic music.
The ceremony is preceded by a short parade led by American Legion 161 and Veterans of Foreign Wars – Post 3276.
The parade is comprised of veterans, town Scout groups, Algonquin students, and representatives from the State House and Board of Selectmen.
Marchers are asked to convene by 10:30 am at the American Legion and VFW headquarters. The procession will start at 10:45 am.
All veterans are encouraged to join the group and the public invited to observe.
(Photo by Susan Fitzgerald)
Updated (11/7/24 4:38 pm): The correct address for the the American Legion & VFW Post headquarters is 28 Main Street.
I am a bit confused — is the transfer station closed on Friday?
No. Because they are normally open on Saturday, they are taking that day as the holiday. For some reason the senior center is open for normal Saturday hours. The library is the only one that is normally open on Saturday, and will be closed on both days.
Thanks for your help. Still confusing but glad the transfer station is open on Friday.
Sure would make more sense if the Transfer Station was open on Saturday instead of Friday. What about all those people who can’t get to there except on Saturdays? Guess there will be a lot of stinky garbage in people’s garages for two weeks instead of the usual one!
But. . . Veterans Day is a federal holiday to honor the veterans. Which is why Town employees are supposed to have it off.
I don’t think anyone would be making an issue of this if it was Christmas, New Year’s Day or the 4th of July that fell on a Saturday.
Part of what is throwing people off is the fact that there is a day off for other town employees on Friday. That is pretty standard practice – that when one of the annual holidays falls on a day employees don’t work, they get to take off a day that they do work. It doesn’t apply to the Transfer Station employees because they do normally work on a Saturday.
I’m not sure why the Senior Center has chosen to be open on the Saturday. But I’m guessing it’s because their hours on that day are short anyway, and it’s really just open for people to use the resources that day – not running any programs.
Sorry, Beth, it still doesn’t make sense to me…the Federal holiday and observance is Friday. The transfer station is open on Friday, so they should have that day off…they still get their holiday day off on the day that everyone else does. Really doesn’t have anything to do with Saturday trash day, you are right, we have other holidays that fall on Saturday and it is closed on those Saturdays. That part of my comment was a further reason that it didn’t make sense for it to be closed on Saturday and the comment about stinky trash was a tongue in cheek comment. But when a holiday is observed federally and by every other entity in town, I would imagine that it would stand to reason that the transfer station would follow suit.
The official federal policy:
Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the following public holidays for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a nonworkday — Saturday or Sunday — the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).
I’m confused 😕 If the federal observance of Veteran’s Day is on Friday, then why is the Transfer Station open….and then closed on Saturday? And the library will be closed for both days? Perhaps someone at the Town House could explain? Thanks!
I’m confused, too. Why is Christmas a federal holiday if we’re supposed to keep state and church separate?