How the Date Is Determined
Columbus Day always lands on a Monday, so its date shifts a little each year.
Columbus Day is the second Monday of October, falling between October 8 and October 14. It once marked a fixed date, October 12. That was the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's 1492 landfall in the Americas. Then the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968 (a law that moved several holidays to Mondays) shifted it to a Monday, effective 1971. The law fixes it to a Monday, so no weekend observance rule applies. A growing number of states and cities observe the same date as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
History
Columbus's October 12, 1492 landfall was in the Bahamas. He never reached the North American mainland. President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed a national celebration in 1892 for the voyage's 400th anniversary. It came partly to ease tensions after the lynching of eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans the year before. Colorado made it a state holiday in 1907, after lobbying by Italian-American advocate Angelo Noce. Italian-American communities embraced the day as a heritage celebration. Congress made it a federal holiday in 1937 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, following a campaign by the Knights of Columbus.
The counter-observance has deep roots too. South Dakota renamed the day Native Americans' Day in 1990. Berkeley, California adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day in 1992. In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Day alongside Columbus Day.
Traditions and Celebrations
Observance is uneven. New York City's Columbus Day Parade has run since 1929. It is still the largest celebration of Italian-American culture in the country. Meanwhile, states including Maine, New Mexico, and Vermont officially celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day instead. They mark it with powwows, educational events, and tribal ceremonies. More than a dozen states and well over a hundred cities have made a similar change. Retailers treat the long weekend as a fall sales event. Many communities simply pass the day with no public festivities. The result is the most locally varied holiday on the federal calendar.
Planning Around Columbus Day
This is a partial-closure holiday. Federal offices, post offices, and most banks close, and the bond market pauses. But the stock market stays open, and most private employers work normally. School closures vary widely by district and state. Confirm local schedules instead of assuming a day off. Check the date on the 2026 holidays calendar.