Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 25, and in Massachusetts it will close public schools, libraries, federal, state and city offices, along with RMV offices and serve centers. The holiday honors military service members who died in the line of duty, but it also brings a three-day weekend that many residents use to travel, shop and catch up on errands.
For Boston drivers, parking meters are free with no time limit on Monday, daytime street cleaning is canceled and overnight street cleaning stays on its normal schedule. Trash and recycling pickups are delayed in some neighborhoods during the holiday week, and Boston Centers for Youth and Families are closed. The MBTA subway and bus system runs on a Sunday schedule, the Commuter Rail runs on a weekend schedule, and the Hingham/Hull/Logan to Boston ferry also follows a Sunday schedule.
Not everything shuts down. Most retail and grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants are open on Memorial Day, and Market Basket and Big Y are both listed as open normal hours in Massachusetts. Pharmacies inside supermarkets may keep limited hours, and most stores in the state are open for normal business. Under Massachusetts law, liquor stores cannot sell alcohol until after noon.
Several other staples of a normal business day stay offline. Post offices are closed except for express delivery, banks are shut, and the U.S. stock market does not open. The East Boston, Charlestown, Lynn, Winthrop and Quincy ferries are on a weekend schedule, while commuter boat service between Hingham and Hull and Boston does not operate. For anyone hoping to handle paperwork, the RMV will be closed all day.
Memorial Day is both a state and federal holiday in Massachusetts, and the pattern is familiar: government stops, transit slows, and commerce keeps moving. Boston Common is set to carry one of the day’s best-known reminders, with 37,000 American flags planted there in remembrance of the men and women who died while serving in the armed forces.
