Kansas man breaks out Halloween, Christmas decorations to promote face masks
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (NewsNation) — A Kansas lawn is filled with decorative skeletons and snowman, not because someone is getting an early start on holiday decorating, but to draw awareness to wearing a face mask.
Kenneth Torres, a retired biologist, pulled out his Christmas and Halloween decorations and modified them so that they displayed messages promoting mask wearing and social distancing.
Overland Park City Councilman Paul Lyons, who lives next door to Torres, said he was confused by the decorations at first.
“I saw the decorations here for Christmas, and I thought, ‘What the heck is he doing that so early for?’” Lyons said. “I come driving by and I see what the message was and I thought, ‘What a cool message that is.”
Torres said he is just trying to draw more awareness to mask wearing.
“One death on this is too many,” he said. “We want to do everything that we can to make sure that we are all safe for the holidays when they come around so that we can enjoy them.”
NewsNation affiliate WDAF contributed to this report.