‘Wearing a mask is not fun,’ but a creative mask ‘makes it a lot more fun’

So, like it or not, Kansans now have to wear face masks when in public.

Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday released an executive order that will require Kansans to wear masks in most public spaces beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

The good news is there are plenty of masks readily available for not much money, and there are many ways to be stylish and even have some fun with them.

For instance, you can frighten your friends with a tiger or ape mask while supporting the Sedgwick County Zoo.

“We just felt like people would really embrace having the option of finding out what their inner spirit animal was,” said Steve Onken, director of development.

Or there are masks made from vintage material with a stamp from an actual Model T Ford tire by Wichita sewing enthusiast Diana Edmiston, a volunteer who made them for the Butler County Historical Society Home of the Kansas Oil Museum to sell for $10 each.

“It’s a historic situation we’re in,” Edmiston said. “So it seemed to fit.”

Museum executive director Tiya Tonn said selling the masks is a bit tricky right now because the museum isn’t open due to the coronavirus, but it it is accepting appointments to shop or do research at 316-321-9333.

Within a few days, Sgt. C’s Leathers is even going to have some masks flipping people the bird “because not everybody’s happy with this,” said owner Irona Cliver.

Because her mother works at the store, Cliver has been requiring masks since her motorcycle apparel and accessory shop reopened following the coronavirus shutdown.

She’s also hired a laid-offer worker to make $5 masks to sell. She has a range of others as well, such as masks featuring skulls and crossbones, masks related to breast cancer, some that are patriotic and others specifically designed for people who are claustrophobic.

There are also motley tubes — stretchy material that bikers use to guard against wind and sun on their faces — that can be used as masks and sell for a range of prices.

“We have pretty much every option you can imagine,” Cliver said.

During the shutdown, she made 50 masks a day and donated them to nursing homes, traveling nurses and others.

Many home seamstresses are making masks and giving them away or at minimal cost. There’s not a clearinghouse for them, though. Mostly, it’s word-of-mouth distribution or through social media.

Neither Sedgwick County nor the city of Wichita are distributing masks in any way. They’re directing people to the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, which has an online resource guide of where to buy masks locally. It’s at https://www.wichitachamber.org/covid-19-suppliers.

However, many retail outlets aren’t on the list. Businesses that would like to be added can e-mail communications@wichitachamber.org.

The Kansas Health Foundation has given more than $220,000 to help agencies across the state buy masks for their employees and the people they serve, but it is not distributing masks to anyone directly.

A stuckation and filling a need

In March, Slickwraps owner Jonathan Endicott was stranded in St. Thomas for two weeks after a cruise he was supposed to go on was canceled when the coronavirus pandemic started hitting the United States and countries around it in earnest.

“Not a bad place to be stuck, by the way,” he said.

From afar, Endicott was watching Sedgwick County Commission meetings and hearing discussions about masks and other personal protective equipment.

“That’s when I knew there was a need.”

He figured he could use the same overseas manufacturing contacts he contracts with to make phone and tablet covers to now make masks, gowns and other PPE products.

Endicott, along with some close friends, decided to do just that as he started Air Capital Distribution while on his stuckation.

He’s since sold millions of products to the state of Kansas.

“I secured that deal in the airport,” Endicott said of his eventual trip home. “I was almost late to the plane. I had to run.”

He’s also sold to private hospitals nationally.

“We’re not trying to sell these to the general public. We’re just not set up for that.”

He did, though, want to do a “massive giveaway” of masks to help people in the Wichita area.

Endicott was trying to figure out how to go about giving away 10,000 KN-95 masks for free when he talked with the Wichita Police Department and realized the police can help distribute them to people in need.

“They’re going to be a million times better than those surgical masks,” he said.

He has some PPE products in his Slickwraps warehouse to distribute locally, but the rest of his supply is sent directly from manufacturers to customers.

Endicott said the main reason he’s been able to get a company like Air Capital started so quickly is he understands the products and already had manufacturers.

“That was the biggest thing, having these existing relationships,” he said. “The product sells itself. That’s not the hard problem.”

Creativity helps add ‘more fun’

Even though Endicott isn’t selling to the public, there are plenty of places selling masks in the Wichita area — too many, in fact, to name here.

For an extensive list of a variety of local and other masks that Facebook users have suggested, check here.

Most of these masks seem to not be medical-grade protection. Your best bet for that appears to be an online order from someplace selling them nationally, although those masks also seem to be in shorter supply.

It might be worth shopping around for some creative masks that align with your interests or causes that you care about.

As Tonn at the museum said, “Wearing a mask is not fun,” but when you do it with something like the inventive ones Edmiston makes, she said, “it makes it a lot more fun.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 2:51 PM.