What's Open & Closed on Family Day 2016

Firstly, I have to remind myself that this much-needed holiday is the silver lining to the not-so-long-ago political term of the very mediocre-at-best Dalton McGuinty, and we all know how essential to life it is that we no longer have to wait from New Years Day to EASTER before getting a long weekend in Ontario, right? That used to be a serious #firstworldproblem.

Secondly, there's always a lot of confusion about what is open and what is closed on Family Day, since it's not a holiday for everyone even though it's a statutory holiday (some employers can give people the choice of this day or the August Civic holiday, which is not statutory).

OPEN:
Federal government offices like the post office and passport office
Neighborhood stuff like indoor pools and skating rinks
Some malls (Eaton Centre 10-6, Vaughan Mills 10-7, Square One 11-6)
Movie Theatres
Restaurants & coffee shops

CLOSED:
City offices
Banks
Grocery Stores (eep!)
LCBO and Beer Stores (double eep!)
Other malls (ex: Mapleview in Burlington, Yorkdale in Toronto, Sherway Gardens)

MODIFIED:
Public transit most places will run on a holiday schedule (ex: TTC, Go Transit, etc...)

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO TODAY?
I'm adding this section because I'm just chock-full of great ideas. No, seriously, I think you should chill. Relax. Take a breath. Read a book (to yourself, your kids, whatever) or a magazine, go for a hike and get some fresh air (bundle up), watch that movie on Netflix you haven't had time for, or test out that meal you've wanted to try from your latest cookbook (grocery stores are closed so hopefully you bought the ingredients already) and enjoy this lovely bonus day of not working! We all need it and I'm quite sure we all deserve it!