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Today, you can shop for food, clothing and alcohol, pick up the dry cleaning, mail a package, do your banking - at most banks - but don’t go to school or the library or try paying your taxes at Town Hall.
Oh, and the union roofer is likely to have the day off, too.
The state’s blue laws, recognizing Good Friday as one of the most solemn holidays on the Christian calendar, have relaxed some, and in 1996 they were changed to allow banks a choice. Most now remain open.
“People are becoming more secular and don’t want their regular life interrupted,” said Leonard Suzio, president of York Hill Trap Rock Quarry Co. Inc.
“I remember when the banks were closed. But we are a service economy.”
All the Suzio family businesses are closed on Good Friday, following a tradition that predates today’s owners.
The companies were founded in 1890 and closed for Good Friday in the first few decades. In the late 1950s, the Teamsters Union declared Good Friday a holiday and most construction trades were given the day off.
It’s also more likely to be a holiday in northern states that have more Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants, who are primarily Catholic, Suzio said.
Businesses in the South are more likely to be closed on the Monday after Easter, Suzio said.
“That was an Episcopalian thing,” he said. “And Italy closes down for all of Easter week.”
John Gatzak, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said Good Friday is still widely observed by Christians, despite their work responsibilities.
“It’s a somber day for Christians,” Gatzak said. “It’s a day when we focus in on the passion and death of Christ and awaken a new spirituality.”
Maryheart Crusaders, on West Main Street, will have services in the morning and close at 2 p.m. to allow for meditation on the day’s significance.

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