Leesburg municipal employees are getting two new paid holidays added to their calendars—but Juneteenth did not make the cut.
The City Commission voted 4-1 on Monday to designate New Year’s Eve and the last Friday in April—the official kickoff to the annual Leesburg Bikefest—as paid days off starting Oct. 1. Mayor Allyson Berry, the city’s first female African America mayor, cast the lone dissenting vote after her pitch to swap the Bikefest holiday for Juneteenth was shot down.
Juneteenth, which is recognized as both a federal and state holiday, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.
The decision to codify the Friday of Leesburg Bikefest as an official holiday essentially rubber-stamps what had become a long-standing operational headache. The massive motorcycle festival requires extensive setup and downtown road closures that heavily disrupt access to municipal buildings.
While downtown offices were historically forced to close during the event, employees previously had to burn their own accrued leave or scramble to adjust their work schedules to cover the closures. Under the newly approved policy, the Bikefest holiday will automatically sunset if the city ever decides to pump the brakes and discontinue the festival in the future.
Meanwhile, adding New Year’s Eve to the calendar aligns Leesburg with neighboring local governments and public employers that offer similar year-end perks.
Human Resources Director Melissa Arriaga noted in an agenda memo that the financial impact of the two additional holidays will be minimal, primarily limited to overtime or holiday pay for the essential personnel required to work those days.
The holiday shakeup comes on the heels of a major financial turnaround for the motorcycle festival. After years of bleeding money and facing operational roadblocks, city leaders revamped the event’s business model—including outsourcing alcohol management to a private vendor. The shift paid off, helping the festival roar back to generate a budget surplus this year.