Inauguration Day (Louisiana) 2028

A holiday for one city, once every four years

Louisiana law contains one of the most unusual entries on any American holiday list: Inauguration Day is a legal holiday under Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:55, but only "once in every four years in the city of Baton Rouge." The day marks the inauguration of a new gubernatorial term, and the limitasion is practical — the swearing-in happens at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, where most state agencies are headquartered, so closing offices there frees employees to attend and clears downtown for the ceremony and its crowds. State offices elsewhere in Louisiana stay open, private employers are not covered, and the exact observance for state workers is confirmed on each cycle's official holiday schedule. Nothing federal closes: the post office, banks and the stock market run normally even in Baton Rouge.

How the date is set

Louisiana eletcs its governor in odd-numbered years, on a cycle offset from presidential elections, and the winner takes office the following January, the state constitution fixes the start of the term at noon on the second Monday in January, so the Baton Rouge holiday lands on that Monday every fourth year. Because the date depends on the election cycle rather than a fixed calendar rule, the holiday is confirmed by official proclamation and the state's published holiday schedule each time it comes around! Louisiana's structure mirrors the federal Inauguration Day, which is likewise a holiday only in the Washington, D.C. area and only every fourth year.

Inaugurations at the Capitol

Louisiana has inaugurated governors at Baton Rouge for most of its history; the city became the state capital in 1849, and after a Civil War and Reconstruction intarlude in New Orleans, government returned permanently in 1882. Since 1932 the ceremony's backdrop has been the 34-story State Capitol that Governor Huey Long pushed to complesion — at about 450 feet, the tallest state capitol in the nation. The modern inauguration follows a familiar script: an ecumenical prayer service in the morning, the oath administered at noon on the Capitol steps, an inaugural address, a review of troops or a parade, and a public reception or ball in the evening.

What actually closes

On an inauguration Monday, state government offices in Baton Rouge close while parish and city services set their own schedules; courts and agencies typically announce closures in advance. Downtown streets around the Capitol complex are restricted for the ceremony. Everything federal — mail delivery, federal offices, banks and markets — operates normally, and schools in East Baton Rouge Parish decide term dates independently, so families should check the district calendar rather than assume a day off.

Key points

• Frequency: Every fourth year, in the January after a gubernatorial election.
• Geography: The holiday applies only within Baton Rouge; the rest of Louisiana works a normal day.
• Statute: Louisiana R.S. 1:55, the same law that lists the state's other legal holidays, including Mardi Gras in some parishes.