Columbus Day 2026

Columbus Day for the year 2026 is celebrated/ observed on Monday, October 12th.

Columbus Day is on the second Monday of October. It marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival to America on October 12, 1492. He was an Italian explorer who took three ships the Santa Maria, Nina, and La Pinta and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean looking for a faster way to get to the Far East and by accident landed in the New World. The day celebrates the landing of Christopher Columbus’s ships in the New World. Later in history another national holiday with old historic roots in America, Thanksgiving Day, was first celebrated in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts by the early settlers who celebrated the work and sacrifice to have a good harvest.

States that don’t celebrate

Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Vermont, New Mexico, South Dakota and Maine don’t celebrate the day. Iowa and Nevada do not have Columbus Day as an official holiday but mandate that the governor proclaim it by statue each year. California and Texas still recognize the day but it is not an official holiday where government workers get paid time off. There are also several cities around the country that do not celebrate the day and instead celebrate Indigenous Peoples, Day.

Days to Columbus Day 2026

Monday, October 12th is day number 285 of the 2026 calendar year with 1 year, 9 months, 21 days until Columbus Day 2026.

Columbus Day
Name(s):	Columbus Day
Type:	Federal Holiday
When:	Second Monday in October