Thanksgiving Day closures
Most local government offices will take a long weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday, closing Thursday and Friday and returning to regular hours on Monday, Dec. 1. The closures include U.S. post offices, most banks, and city offices in the Highland Lakes area.
Shoppers should also expect adjusted hours at businesses across the area. Walmart locations will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and reopen Friday for Black Friday crowds. H-E-B grocery stores will keep limited hours on Thanksgiving, opening from 6 a.m. to noon, although all H-E-B pharmacies will be closed.
10 Thanksgiving Fun Facts
- The first Thanksgiving parade was not the Macy’s Day Parade. Philadelphia’s 1920 parade, sponsored by Gimbels Department Store, came four years before Macy’s first march.
- Pumpkin pie is the holiday favorite, with Americans eating about 50 million pumpkin pies each Thanksgiving.
- The original 1621 feast lasted three days, and turkey likely was not served.
- Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln made it official during the Civil War.
- Americans eat about 46 million turkeys every Thanksgiving.
- The first “Turkey Trot” was held in 1896 in Buffalo, New York, with only six runners participating.
- Macy’s used to release its parade balloons into the sky until 1932, after safety concerns were cited.
- The Detroit Lions have played nearly every Thanksgiving since 1934, and the only break was during World War II.
- Only three small U.S. towns are named Turkey, and they are located in Texas, North Carolina, and Louisiana.
- Thanksgiving ranks as America’s second-favorite holiday, just after Christmas.
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