Monday marked Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois, the annual state holiday honoring the Polish-born Revolutionary War hero who gave his life fighting for American independence in 1779. City offices closed. Cook County courts went dark. The Polish Museum of America held a wreath-laying ceremony at its famous Pulaski painting. And approximately 1.4 million Chicagoans enjoyed a day off from work without the faintest clue why.

A new survey conducted by DePaul University’s Department of Public Understanding found that 62 percent of Chicago-area residents who received Pulaski Day off could not correctly identify who Casimir Pulaski was. Of those, 23 percent guessed he was “some kind of mayor,” 18 percent believed he invented the Polish sausage, 11 percent thought it had something to do with Pulaski Road, and one respondent—a 34-year-old man from Portage Park—insisted he had met Pulaski “at the Jewel-Osco on Belmont, like, two years ago.”

“He was by the deli counter,” the man, who asked to be identified only as Greg, told reporters with complete confidence. “Tall guy. Had a mustache. We talked about the Bears for a minute. Nice dude.” When informed that Casimir Pulaski died in 1779, Greg paused for several seconds before responding, “That doesn’t sound right, but I’m not gonna argue.”

The holiday, which falls on the first Monday of March, is observed as a state holiday in Illinois and as a local holiday in Chicago and Cook County. It is one of the few state holidays in the nation honoring a figure from the Revolutionary War who was not born in America—Pulaski was born in Warsaw in 1745 and came to the colonies after being recruited by Benjamin Franklin in Paris. He was mortally wounded at the Siege of Savannah in 1779 and was posthumously granted honorary U.S. citizenship by Congress in 2005, making him one of only eight people ever to receive the distinction.

None of this information was known to the fourteen people a Dispatch reporter interviewed at a Lincoln Park coffee shop Monday morning. “Honestly, I thought it was like Presidents’ Day but for Polish people,” said one woman sipping an oat milk latte. “Which, respect.” Another man said he had always assumed it was named after the street, which he described as “a very long road that deserves recognition.”

The Polish Museum of America, which held its annual ceremony complete with guest speakers and live artistic performances streamed on its website, expressed no frustration at the public’s general ignorance. “We are simply grateful that the holiday exists,” said a museum spokesperson. “And if it takes a few people a while to learn the history, that’s fine. Pulaski waited two hundred and twenty-six years for honorary citizenship. We can be patient.”

City officials confirmed that all municipal offices, Cook County courts, and Chicago Public Library branches were closed for the holiday. Chicago Public Schools, banks, and post offices remained open, leading to the annual tradition of confused parents arriving at locked library doors with children who did, in fact, have school, and then standing on the sidewalk googling “Pulaski Day” on their phones.

As of press time, Greg from Portage Park had texted our reporter a follow-up message: “I just looked it up and I think the guy at Jewel was actually named Steve. My bad. Happy Pulaski Day though.”