You get the day off for what?

November 25, 2018 10:06 AM

I just found out that my sister-in-law's school district in Pennsylvania gives students the day off tomorrow for the first day of hunting season. I had never heard of that before! So it got me wondering what kinds of other hyper-local quirky holidays schools give off around the country. I know Brooklyn/Queens day in NYC, and Patriot's Day in Massachusetts but can't really think of any others. I'd love to hear what else is out there!
posted by Neely O'Hara to Grab Bag (65 answers total)

We usually had the first day of hunting season off in rural Michigan.

In a very Armenian enclave of LA, they generally have to give Armenian Christmas (on a different calendar) off because so few students show up.
I suspect other enclaves have particular holidays off. I generally don't hold university classes on lunar new year, as many of my students care about that holiday.
posted by k8t at 10:12 AM on November 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

Vermont has Town Meeting Day.
posted by k8t at 10:13 AM on November 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

Students in northern Maine historically got time off for potato harvest, though the potato harvest break has been eliminated in some places in recent years.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:13 AM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Chicago gets Casimir Pulaski Day.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:15 AM on November 25, 2018 [9 favorites]

The opening day of deer hunt was also a school holiday when I went to high school in the mid-1980s in Utah. I always just figured that it was a realistic move because hunting was so important to residents that they knew not many people would show up anyway, so why not make it official?

Relatives in Idaho and Montana similarly had officialdays out of school for the wheat harvest. (And other harvests too as far as I know.)
posted by seasparrow at 10:15 AM on November 25, 2018

Pennsylvania gives students the day off tomorrow for the first day of hunting season

Deer rifle season, that is, following bow season.
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:22 AM on November 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

We have three week-ish long school breaks in the Northeast: Christmas/Holiday break, Spring break (around Easter), and Winter/February Break, which happens President's Day week. The wealthier kids in my district would either go skiing or to some place warm. Apparently, Christmas break is shorter around Boston/NYC in exchange. (Ours was always a half day on the 23rd through the 1st, with school starting up agains on the 2nd.)

I didn't realize this was regional until my husband, who's from the Midwest, got really confused one time when I talked about having a week off in February.
posted by damayanti at 10:23 AM on November 25, 2018

New Orleans and southern Louisiana/Mississippi schools get two or three days off for Mardi Gras. I knew this isn't a national thing, but I was surprised to find it isn't even statewide when I moved to the northern half of the state in high school.
posted by zeptoweasel at 10:26 AM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

When I was a kid, we used to get day off for the first afternoon minor league baseball game of the year if we had a ticket. I think they stopped doing that though.
posted by lyssabee at 10:28 AM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

New Hampshire had Fast Day which was something to do with praying for the health of an ailing governor back in colonial times. Technically it was a school holiday but the scheduling always managed to coincide with spring vacation. Google says it was abandoned back in the 90s.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:31 AM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don’t know if they still do it but we got three days off for the Punchestown Festival when I was in primary/secondary in Naas, Co. Kildare. Mostly because so many people were involved in horse racing/stabling/training in the area and also because if you weren’t helping out with the family business, you were probably working somewhere else in the festival or just attending so it was that or mass truancy.
posted by halcyonday at 10:36 AM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

My district in NM has one or two pueblo feast days off.
posted by Grandysaur at 10:43 AM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

In Tucson, schools close for two days during Rodeo Week (Fiesta de la Vaqueros.) I marched in the parade with my school band. It was (and perhaps still is) the largest non-mechanized parade in the country (floats pulled by horses or people.)
posted by profreader at 10:48 AM on November 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

I went to a Catholic school and we had to go to Mass in the morning on the first Friday of every month, and then we got the rest of the day off.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:51 AM on November 25, 2018

Students attending public schools in Muskegon, Michigan, get half a day off for Hackley Day.

[Charles Hackley was a local lumber baron who, after ruthlessly amassing a fortune, apparently felt the need to soften his image a bit by turning to philanthropy -- as long as he could get things named after him. As a consequence, in addition to the aforementioned holiday, Muskegon also has Hackley Park, Hackley Avenue, the Hackley Library, Hackley Hospital, tours of the Hackley House, and probably other things that I am forgetting.]
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:55 AM on November 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

Many schools in San Antonio, TX have the day off for the Battle of Flowers parade, part of an annual Fiesta. Many employers will also give a full day or half day off for this parade.
posted by muddgirl at 11:02 AM on November 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

I just found out that my sister-in-law's school district in Pennsylvania gives students the day off tomorrow for the first day of hunting season. I had never heard of that before!

By the way, in my experience this was not that uncommon, especially in school districts in smaller communities in the upper midwest and Great Lakes region.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:06 AM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

LSU definately takes M through W for Mardi Gras .
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:13 AM on November 25, 2018

The Washington DC government, including schools, is closed for DC Emancipation Day: "The DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 ended slavery in Washington, DC, freed 3,100 individuals, reimbursed those who had legally owned them and offered the newly freed women and men money to emigrate. It is this legislation, and the courage and struggle of those who fought to make it a reality, that we commemorate every April 16, DC Emancipation Day."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 11:41 AM on November 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

Pulaski Day used to be all of Illinois! Chicago Public Schools does not take it off these days.
posted by Xalf at 12:39 PM on November 25, 2018

I grew up in a small town outside of Dallas, and we had a Fair Day every October -- a day off of school while the State Fair was open. (I think it was a teacher inservice day, but I'm not certain about that. I was reminded of it because my mom mentioned it last month -- it's something the school district still does.)
posted by mudpuppie at 12:41 PM on November 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

My heavily Catholic town has Good Friday off from school. Is that a thing for the rest of the US? Rhode Island is also the state that celebrates Victory Day, which doesn’t affect school, since it’s in early August, but was a pain when Kid Ruki was in day camp.
posted by Ruki at 12:58 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

LobsterMitten: "Chicago gets Casimir Pulaski Day."

Many schools throughout Illinois, not just Chicago.
posted by crazy with stars at 1:25 PM on November 25, 2018

Some schools in California get March 31 off for Cesar Chavez Day. From the Wikipedia page, it looks like some other states observe it as well.
posted by wsquared at 1:32 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

In New Jersey, we got the day off for the NJEA Teachers Convention in October. Seemed normal enough but I've learned as an adult that only three states schedule school breaks for their state convention.
posted by Miko at 1:39 PM on November 25, 2018

Some parts of MA have Evacuation Day.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:43 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

I briefly lived in Utah, where Pioneer Day is a thing. It's in July, so doesn't affect school openings, but most government offices and some businesses are closed. I thought it was a haze-the-newbie prank when I first moved there, Oh haha suuuure I can't go to the library because it's "Pioneer Day," whatever. Then I learned!

It's not quite the same, but in the eastern North Carolina school districts I grew up in, the NC State Fair was an excused absence. Pretty much nothing else short of sickness or a loved one's funeral counted (even with a legit signed note from your parents) so it was a big deal!
posted by rhiannonstone at 1:57 PM on November 25, 2018

Many ski hills here have a discounted day for locals that the school districts end up coordinating with one of their inservice days.

One of the local schools closes for the day after Halloween.
posted by Mitheral at 2:07 PM on November 25, 2018

My high school had a "Ski and Skate Week" every February.
posted by aniola at 2:15 PM on November 25, 2018

In south-western Nova Scotia, they often schedule a PD Day (so no school for kids) on Dumping Day, the first day of the lobster season.

Lots of high school kids actually miss a couple of weeks of school to work, and lots of families go down to the wharves to see the boats off.
posted by MangoNews at 2:20 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

My brother who works in Rhode Island gets a day off in August for Victory Day.
posted by letourneau at 2:27 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think there are still some school districts in VA still celebrating Lee-Jackson Day.
posted by COD at 2:34 PM on November 25, 2018

In Hawaii schools are closed for Statehood Day in August and Prince Kuhio Day in March.

The kids also get released early every Wednesday. No cultural reason, just a really badass union.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 2:51 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Growing up going to Catholic school, we got every Holy Day of Obligation off. My mother used one of them as an opportunity to take us to the dentist. After Mass, of course. We also had Good Friday and 'Easter Monday' as school holidays.

Most Minnesota schools have the Thursday & Friday of 'MEA' Week--now called Education Minnesota--off for the teachers' convention. It is the third week in October. Apparently one of the three states that do this, as Miko mentioned.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 2:53 PM on November 25, 2018

Rhode Island gets the second Monday in August off for Victory Day.

There's a lot of opposition to ending the holiday, but when you're in the Ocean State and August doesn't have any three day weekends otherwise, it kind of makes sense.

Also, Boston: Evacuation Day. As a transplant to the area, I thought it was pretty interesting that it also happened to be St. Patrick's Day. Coincidence? Maybe...
posted by metarkest at 2:58 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Starting in 1794, the Circuit Court judge would come once a year, always on the 3rd Monday in October, to Montgomery County, Kentucky to try criminals. People would come from miles around to sell their crops, trade horses and mules, swap goods and services. The 4-day event now brings some 200,000 people in to buy, sell, and trade, with over 1500 vendors set up in and around downtown Mount Sterling, in Kentucky's largest outdoor festival.

No school on that Monday or the Friday before.
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 3:02 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Kids in Louisville get Oaks Day off. It's the day before the Kentucky Derby when they run the Kentucky Oaks, a race for three year old fillies. It used to be just a local event years and years ago but ballooned wildly and you can't really get anywhere in town that day.
posted by dilettante at 3:07 PM on November 25, 2018

Casimir Pulaski Day is optional for all schools in Illinois ... a lot of schools schedule it off but use it as a make-up day if there's a snow day. Some schools don't take it anymore because of the increasing demands of the school calendar.

I grew up on Chicago's North Shore, where my public school district closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! (Still does, in fact.) I have now introduced my children to the glorious tradition of "holidays where all your friends are fasting but you get a day off of school and the movie theaters are empty."

Illinois has a guideline for districts, that if more than (I think) 30% of your students OR teachers will be missing school for whatever reason -- religious obligations, start of hunting season, Polish pride parade attendance -- you may (and should probably) cancel school. It's a pretty good guideline because it gives schools the flexibility for North Shore public schools to close for Jewish High Holidays and rural downstate schools to close for the first day of deer season and Peoria publics to take Good Friday off, without having to make any state-level decisions about religious holidays. (That's also, incidentally, the guideline for flu season closures -- if 30% of your students or staff are home sick, give up and go home.)

Illinois also takes Lincoln's Birthday (Feb 12) rather than the wishy-washy "Presidents' Day" which includes lots of crappy presidents. WE take the holiday for the One True Best President as God intended!

A lot of Catholic colleges have Good Friday and Easter Monday (sometimes with a half-day on Thursday as well), with the expectation that a lot of students will be traveling home for Easter on Thursday/Friday and back on Monday.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:53 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

I grew up in Illinois (mostly Springfield) in the 60s and 70s and never heard of Casimir Pulaski until now. We did get Lincoln’s birthday off though.

When we lived in Germany, my kids came home early one day and told me it was hitzefrei. If a certain temperature is reached, they send the kids home because it’s too hot. Not really what you’re looking for, but an interesting side note.
posted by FencingGal at 4:09 PM on November 25, 2018

This is the third year now the district I teach in has given students the entirety of Wisconsin's 9-day gun-deer season off (really only 2 days extra off because of Thanksgiving and weekends). We had about a third of students missing school that Monday-Tuesday anyway, and we were already giving them Wednesday-Friday off for Thanksgiving.

We just have a long weekend for Easter/spring break, though.

Growing up in Wisconsin we had a long weekend around Halloween for teachers' convention.
posted by abeja bicicleta at 4:13 PM on November 25, 2018

My rural Tennessee high school took the day off of classes for Tractor Day every year. We still went to school but we spent the day in the parking lot admiring the tractors driven in by all students who had access to one. Kind of a pep rally before harvest, in a way.

Minnesota takes two days off for an educators conference every October.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 4:30 PM on November 25, 2018

You mentioned Patriots Day but I think that's only an official holiday in Suffolk County. Likewise Evacuation Day is hyper local - Boston city offices are closed but none of the surrounding towns are.

Bunker Hill Day is another local holiday our public schools get off for. Also Suffolk County only, but also Somerville (which is in Middlesex County) because we used to be part of Charlestown.

When I was growing up, we used to get odd Mondays and Fridays off for teacher training and parent teacher conferences but I don't think they were tied to any particular holiday.
posted by backseatpilot at 4:34 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Minnesota is another of the three states that gets a long weekend for the annual Educators Conference (MEA Weekend). It's mid-October and it's usually prime autumn leaf season, which is a nice perk. Better to have a beautiful long weekend in October off than, say, mid-January (sorry, MLK jr).

As far as I know, no major school systems take the day off for the deer opener, but I have a theory that the reason MN has such liberal early voting laws is directly related to the fact that Election Day usually falls on the Tuesday after Deer Opener, and all of the menfolk are up at Deer Camp. We can't make the menfolk choose between voting and killing Bambi, wouldn't be fair! Better change voting laws so they can do both. I guess in this case it works out well for everyone.

I will forever lobby to have the first nice day of spring every year set aside as a state holiday. After a long hard winter, the first 60 degree day should be for walking around outside in shorts and squinting at that weird bright thing in the sky. We breathe deeply and finally let our shoulders drop back down from their eternally-hunched-against-the-cold position. Nobody should be inside on that glorious day.
posted by Elly Vortex at 4:36 PM on November 25, 2018 [5 favorites]

Lots of Florida schools get a Fair Day for their state or county fair, especially in agricultural counties. Western Hillsborough County gets a day in January to go to the State Fair in Tampa, and the eastern county goes the Strawberry Festival in Plant City the following month.
posted by toodleydoodley at 4:42 PM on November 25, 2018

I believe Utah gives students a week off in October for Education Week, which is when the state educator's union holds their annual conference. Although it looks like they didn't have the convention this year and everyone just took the time off.
posted by ericales at 5:04 PM on November 25, 2018

Marin County has ski week the week of Presidents Day.

(Because of course it does)
posted by imalaowai at 5:49 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

My undergrad got two days off for St. Pats because nobody was sober enough to go to class anyway. St. Pats is a big deal there (patron saint of engineers).
posted by jeffamaphone at 6:37 PM on November 25, 2018

San Francisco public school close for Chinese New Year; not enough students would attend to make it worthwhile to stay open..
posted by TDIpod at 7:53 PM on November 25, 2018

Vermont has Town Meeting Day.

Also Bennington Battle Day which is in August, so kids don't get out of school but it is a state holiday.
posted by jessamyn at 8:06 PM on November 25, 2018

I don't know if you intended to only include elementary, middle, and high schools, but both Smith and Mount Holyoke celebrate Mountain Day; the college presidents ring the bells at 7 am on a glorious New England fall weekday to announce that classes and events are cancelled that day so everyone can get out and enjoy nature's beauty.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 9:16 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Many northeastern townships in New Jersey (suburbs of NYC) close their school systems down for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as a good third of the student body would be absent if they stayed open. I'm sure there are suburbs of other cities that do the same elsewhere; I'm just familiar with the ones I grew up in.
posted by tzikeh at 12:10 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Both my parents' school districts in rural Texas give days off for the fair. Lots of their kids show stock (and I assume plenty would also skip school just because).
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:51 AM on November 26, 2018

NYC schools get off for Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, and Lunar New Year - these are fairly recent additions to the school-closed calendar.
posted by valeries at 7:42 AM on November 26, 2018

Response by poster: These are all FANTASTIC! Even more obscure and delightful days off I've never heard of than I expected. I couldn't even possibly choose best answers because these are ALL the best.
posted by Neely O'Hara at 8:40 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

My Catholic high school used to cancel school on St Francis Day, Oct 4, because our teachers were Franciscan monks. Some years we had to go to mass in the morning and then take the rest of the day off.

We also got early dismissal for all the days in August and early September because it was too hot and the air conditioners/swamp coolers were too old.
posted by CathyG at 12:55 PM on November 26, 2018

On the James Bay coast, most communities get 'Goose Week' off in the spring and fall (sometime around mid October I think) as many families go out on the land hunt geese before they are gone for the winter/when they return. Feasting follows...
posted by Northbysomewhatcrazy at 5:17 PM on November 26, 2018

A friend who moved to Union, Maine told me that schools were closed for a week every spring after the snow melted and everything had turned to mud. It was "mud week". I believe her; it sounds crazy but sensible, but I don't know if they still do this. Any Mefites from Maine who can comment?
posted by citygirl at 6:34 PM on November 26, 2018

The Washington DC government, including schools, is closed for DC Emancipation Day

Another DC holiday little-known outside the Beltway is Inauguration Day (January 20, but only every four years), for the Federal Government anyway, which has a trickle-down effect locally, with some other things closing also.

I've heard California kids used to get California Admission Day off but it's too close to Labor Day and now they get Caesar Chavez and/or MLK Day, instead.
posted by Rash at 7:24 PM on November 26, 2018

I've heard California kids used to get California Admission Day off but it's too close to Labor Day and now they get Caesar Chavez and/or MLK Day, instead.

Admission Day only became an official holiday in 2005, so I'm not entirely sure when that took place. It certainly was before my mom and I were in school...
posted by elsietheeel at 8:53 PM on November 26, 2018

Came in to say that my suburban Connecticut town got Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off.
posted by batter_my_heart at 11:22 PM on November 26, 2018

In St. John's Newfoundland, the first Wednesday in August is Regatta Day. Nearly all offices, businesses, shops etc. within the city limits close for the day, but only if the weather co-operates.
posted by peppermind at 4:36 AM on November 27, 2018

In southern Delaware, they have Return Day.
posted by Pax at 12:31 PM on November 28, 2018

Victoria, Australia here.
We get Good Friday off- Easter Monday is also a holiday but usually that gets rolled into the break. It's a busy time of year for public holidays as ANZAC day is also a school closed day.

We get the day off for a horse race. Melbourne Cup. As it always falls on a Tuesday, we (my school- I'm on the consultative board) try and wrangle a day off for the Monday 'cup eve' so that we can have a four day weekend. Teaching on the Monday was awful because half the kids weren't there, and the kids that were behaved badly because they were annoyed that they had to be there!
posted by freethefeet at 12:35 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Another US government holiday is coming, this one sporadic but just announced (and with it, possible DC school closures). That is, the day of any President's funeral (in this case, it'll be for 41).
posted by Rash at 10:12 PM on November 30, 2018

Victoria, Australia also gets a day off for the Grand Final Eve- not the Grand Final itself, but the day before. There's some parade or something. This is a very new day off, and most people forget about it.
posted by daybeforetheday at 1:59 AM on December 1, 2018