Monday, Sept. 5 is the Labor Day holiday, a three-day weekend that unofficially signals the end of summer.

Labor Day is a federal holiday so there is no mail service, while banks, schools and city offices are closed. Businesses have the option of closing. Escalon City Council, which normally meets the first and third Mondays of the month, typically postpones their meetings to the next night – Tuesday – following a Monday holiday. However, at the council’s Aug. 15 session, City Manager Tammy Alcantor indicated a lack of pressing agenda items would allow the city to cancel the Tuesday, Sept. 6 council session altogether. That will make the Sept. 19 meeting the only council session for the month.

Meanwhile, Farmington Fire Department will take advantage of the long weekend and last-gasp summer travelers to collect funds for the Firefighters Burn Institute. They will host their annual Fill The Boot drive, stationed outside the firehouse at the busy intersection of Highway 4 and Escalon-Bellota Road. Firefighters with their turnout boots will seek donations from passing motorists, with all money going to the Firefighters Burn Institute in Sacramento to provide programs and services to burn survivors. The drive will begin on Friday, Sept. 2 and run through Monday, Sept. 5. Hours will be roughly 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Farmington normally hosts its Fill The Boot drive in February, over the long Presidents’ Day holiday weekend but had to postpone it this year. Officials decided on the long Labor Day weekend, hoping to tap into the holiday traffic. Motorists who donate are provided with a flyer for their windshield to indicate they have donated, so they are not asked again if they travel back through the intersection during the weekend.

Also, state and local police agencies will join forces in a heightened holiday presence, aiming to get intoxicated or impaired drivers off the road and keep the highways safe for holiday travelers.