Holiday Hours: Martin Luther King Jr. Day| 10:58AM / Friday, January 17, 2025 | |
 Coretta Scott King, left, watches President Ronald Reagan sign the bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. |
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is being celebrated Monday, Jan. 20. It is a federal holiday to commemorate the birthday of the civil rights activist born Jan. 15, 1929. It is observed on the third Monday in January.
King, a Baptist minister, led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s by espousing nonviolent protest. His best-known address, the "I Have a Dream" speech, was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to a crowd of 250,000 who participated in the March on Washington. The 1964 Nobel Prize winner was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
While the reverend was born in Atlanta, he has ties to Massachusetts. He earned his doctorate from Boston University and met and married his wife, Coretta Scott, in Boston. The state's U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke sponsored the first bill to declare a holiday in his honor in the 1970s. MLK Day was first observed as a federal holiday in 1986 but a number of states, particularly in the South and West, did not add it to their list of state holidays until some years later.
While federal and state offices are closed, only about a third of businesses give their employees the time off.
Northern Berkshire Community Coalition will hold its annual Day of Service on Monday and present the annual Peacemaker Award in MCLA's Venable Hall gym. This year's award will be presented to Gina Coleman, director of diversity equity and inclusion for the Brien Center, former educator and administrator in the Pittsfield Public Schools and at Williams College, and longtime musician and community leader; the celebration begins with check-in at MCLA's Church Street Center at 8:30, volunteering at various sites from 9 to 11:30, then lunch and presentations beginning at 12:30 at the center.
Berkshire Community College will start off its annual Day of Service event with keynote speaker Rachel Melendez Mabee, Greylock Federal Credit Union's vice president of DEI, culture and brand, and breakfast at United Methodist Church at 10 a.m. This event is co-sponsored by the Berkshire Branch of the NAACP. Volunteer activities in Partnership with Berkshire United Way will follow; lunch will be provided by UpStreet Smoke, a Pittsfield-based Black-owned business.
Multicultural BRIDGE hosts a day of service starting with a blessing at 9 a.m. at Macedonia Church on Rosseter Street in Great Barrington, followed by work proejcts at various sites. A circle gathering and a bag lunch from Momma Lo's BBQ (RSVP for lunch) is at 1 p.m. and then a swap shop, cataloging, card delivery and food distribution at the Solidarity House and in Pittsfield from 2 to 5. To participate, complete the MLK Day of Service form.
Closed:
Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery.
Banks
Stock markets
Public colleges and schools, most private schools
Public libraries
Some offices and businesses
BRTA is not running; office is closed
Open:
Most retail outlets, groceries
Restaurants and bars
Convenience stores
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