Anyone planning to spend Gold Cup Parade day in Charlottetown Friday should be aware that certain services may not be available and that some businesses will either be closing their doors or operating on a reduced schedule.
All provincial government offices in Queens and Kings Counties are closed for the day to allow government employees to attend the parade and Old Home Week celebrations.
While government offices in those two counties will be closed, P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission outlets will operate as usual.
It will be business as usual for the province's visitor information centres as well.
Provincial government offices in Prince County are open all day. Those offices closed for a day in July during the Summerside Lobster Carnival.
City Hall in Charlottetown will only be open until 10:30 a.m., at which time the doors will be locked to allow employees to attend the parade. The switchboard will continue to operate until 12 noon.
City Hall will close for the day at noon.
A survey of chartered banks in the city indicates that all banks will be closed until 1 p.m.
Access will still be available to ATM machines in the lobbies of those banks.
Confederation Court Mall will be open but it has been left up to individual businesses within the mall to set their own hours of operation for the day.
Businesses throughout the city are operating on a similar basis.
A spokesperson for the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce said because Gold Cup Parade day is not a statutory holiday, businesses have the option of choosing to open or close or to open for only part of the day.
The chamber itself will be closed.
"Most non-profit organizations tend to follow the province," the spokesperson said. "If they're closed, we're closed."
It's expected that most businesses which attract tourists, such as restaurants and gift shops, will operate on their regular schedule, but people may want to phone ahead.
Those travelling into the downtown area from outside the city should also plan to leave home a little earlier because of parade-related street closures.
