Thanksgiving Day closures and the origins of Black Friday
Government offices, schools, banks, and businesses across the Highland Lakes will be closed or operating at hobbled hours on Thanksgiving, which is Thursday, Nov. 23. Turkey day is followed by the annual holiday shopping extravaganza known as Black Friday.
All area city and county government offices will be closed Thursday and Friday.
Some get a head start on Wednesday with the city of Bertram’s offices closing at 10 a.m., Sunrise Beach Village at noon, and Llano at 3 p.m.
Banks and post offices will close on Thanksgiving Day and reopen for normal business hours on Friday.
Marble Falls Independent School District, Burnet Consolidated ISD, and Llano ISD campuses have been closed since Monday. Llano and Marble Falls students are back in classrooms on Monday, Nov. 27. Burnet students get an extra day, returning on Tuesday, Nov. 28, as BCISD teachers have a professional development day on Monday.
Local businesses may have reduced hours and closures throughout the week, so call ahead or look them up online before making shopping plans.
Walmart in Marble Falls will be closed on Thursday.
H-E-B in Marble Falls will be open from 6 a.m. to noon Thursday, but the pharmacy will be closed. Curbside service will be available from 7-11 a.m. Thursday. There will be no home delivery on Thanksgiving Day.
BLACK FRIDAY
The name Black Friday was coined in the 1950s by Philadelphia police officers who dreaded the chaos that ensued when thousands of suburbanites flooded the city after Thanksgiving for the annual Army-Navy football game. Visitors also used the trip as an opportunity to do their Christmas shopping, bringing mayhem to the City of Brotherly Love. Police had to deal with overenthusiastic shoppers, predatory shoplifters, and football fanatics all at once.
By the 1960s, Black Friday became a thing in Philadelphia. Retailers, who did some of their best business the day after Thanksgiving, actually attempted to change the name to “Big Friday” to make it more positive, but it never stuck.
By the late 1980s, Black Friday transcended its hometown roots and spread across the country. Businesses spun it as a day of major discounts and deals.
Today, Black Friday has expanded into a series of shopping days, including Small Business Saturday, Small Business Sunday, and Cyber Monday, all following Thanksgiving.