Juneteenth takes place on Wednesday this year, meaning many government facilities and services will be closed or have modified hours in observance. As the newest federal, state and city holiday, you may have some questions about what the day commemorates and when it became a holiday. Juneteenth — also called America’s second Independence Day — marks the day when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 and informed the last enslaved African Americans there that they were free.
In 2021, President Joe Biden made the date a federal holiday, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state holiday and Seattle and King County later finalized the date as a holiday for government workers. Here’s what you need to know about Juneteenth, what’s open and closed in the Seattle area and answers to other popular Google searches about the holiday.
The name “Juneteenth” refers to the date of the holiday, combining the words “June” and “nineteenth.” Mail will not be delivered Wednesday as the U.S.
Postal Service, along with other federal, county and city government facilities, will be closed. Private package delivery companies like UPS and FedEx will still operate normal hours. The Federal Reserve System and the New York Stock Exchange will be closed on Wednesday, along with the majority of banks, including Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase and Citibank, as most financial institutions follow the federal holiday schedule.
In King County and Seattle, garbage collecti.
