The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a federal holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. King as born on January 15, 1929, but since 1986 the United States has been celebrating the civil rights leader on the third Monday of January each year.
While you won't get your mail from the U.S. Postal Service you may wonder what other offices and services are affected. Texas also observes King's birthday as an official state holiday, so don't plan to stand in line at the department of motor vehicles. Most banks are also closed in observance of the holiday.
In Dallas, most city offices and libraries are closed, but city recreation centers are open. 311 operators will take emergency animal control calls as well as service-related urgent calls such as water main breaks, downed trees/limbs and signal lights out/down. Garbage and recycling will be collected as scheduled for residential customers. Transfer stations and the McCommas Bluff landfill will be open.
In Fort Worth, most city offices, including City Hall, will be closed Monday. There will be no changes in garbage and recycling schedules. City libraries and community centers will also be closed. In case you've been trying to pay your water bill online, the city's H2Online website and phone systems have been unavailable since Friday night, and will continue to be offline for maintenance until 8 p.m. on Monday. Emergency calls about main breaks and sewer backups should be made at 817-392-4477. Golf courses, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden grounds, Botanic Garden Center, Japanese Garden, Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, Water Gardens and McLeland Tennis Center are open. The T's buses, MITS, Molly the Trolley and the Trinity Railway Express will operate on a normal weekday schedule on Monday.
In Denton, most city offices, libraries and recreation centers are closed.There will be no residential curbside trash, recycling or yard waste collection on Monday, all trash collection days will move forward a day with Monday's route collected on Tuesday, and Tuesday's route collected on Wednesday and so on through Friday. The City of Denton landfill will be open from 7 a.m. to noon.
In Plano, most city offices and libraries are closed. Carpenter Park, Liberty, Oak Point and Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Centers will operate on a normal schedule, but the Plano Senior Recreation Center and Interurban Railway Museum are closed. The trash collection schedule slides forward one day for everyone so Monday collection on Tuesday, Tuesday on Wednesday, and so on through Friday.
So with most every school district in North Texas out on Monday, what should you do with the kids? How about joining NBC 5 at the 26th Annual Elite News Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade and Festival, the second largest MLK parade in the country. It all starts at 10 a.m., CLICK HERE for more information.
