February 22, 2026
The decision means Post Falls city employees will no longer have Juneteenth as a paid holiday.
The city council in Post Falls, Idaho, voted to remove Juneteenth from its official list of city holidays. Instead, Post Falls will restore Columbus Day.
On Feb. 17, the six-member Post Falls City Council voted 4-2 to eliminate Juneteenth from the municipal holiday calendar. The decision means city employees will no longer have Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Mayor Randy Westlund vehemently supports the change. He believes Columbus Day reflects the city’s commitment to honor “American heritage.”
“Removing Juneteenth from the holiday list and restoring Columbus Day, which I believe is a more appropriate holiday honoring our American heritage,” Westlund said at the council meeting.
Council President Joe Malloy straddles the fence when speaking on the council’s decision. He asserts Juneteenth is a “crowning achievement” in America. However, in his opinion the discovery of America by Columbus is also a notable event. Though, history has proven Columbus never actually set foot on continental U.S. soil.
“Juneteenth celebrates the actual end of slavery in the United States, and the abolition of slavery, I believe, is one of the crowning achievements of Western civilization [and] is certainly worthy of celebration,” Post Falls City councilmember Joe Malloy said. “On the flip side, North America as we know it and the United States entirely would not exist if we’re not for the expeditions of Christopher Columbus and other European explorers, which are also worth celebrating. So I don’t know if you consider doing it every other year type of thing, but I think both are very relevant to our history and worth celebrating.”
In the meeting, Councilman Marc Lucca stated that Martin Luther King Jr. Day, another federal holiday recognizing civil rights progress, is sufficient. Though the commemoration of Juneteenth denotes the moment all enslaved persons were alerted of their freedom and were able to embrace their rights as full American Citizens.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, and enforced the end of slavery, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It became a federal holiday in 2021 and is widely observed across the United States.
The Post Falls decision affects only the city’s official holiday schedule. Juneteenth is still recognized under state and federal law. While the town has individual authority to make the change federal offices will continue to observe it as a national holiday. Additionally, federal employees will continue to receive pay.
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