Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Bel Air

Jan. 21 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and that means closings and schedule changes to allow for remembrance of the civil rights activist.

In observance of Monday's holiday, municipal offices in Bel Air are closed, as are Harford County offices.

Trash will not be collected Monday, Jan. 21, according to the Bel Air Department of Public Works. Instead, citizens whose normal trash pick-up day is Monday should put their garbage out before 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 23. Recycling days are unchanged. There will be no bulk trash pick-up the week of Jan. 21.

How will you spend MLK Day in Bel Air? Tell us in the comments.

For some, the national holiday honoring the prominent civil rights activist is a time to give back and learn about King and his life's work.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, now a U.S. holiday, took 15 years to create.

Legislation was first proposed by Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) four days after King was assassinated in 1968. It was finally passed in 1983, following civil rights marches in Washington. Then-president Ronald Reagan signed it into law.

It was not until 2000 that every U.S. state celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by its name. Before then, states like Utah referred to the holiday more broadly as Human Rights Day. Now, the Corporation for National and Community Service has declared it an official U.S. Day of Service.