As of Monday, masks are no longer required in most settings in Maine.
It s the first time in a little more than a year that face coverings aren t broadly mandated, though it s still recommended that people who aren t vaccinated against COVID-19 wear them indoors.
That means most businesses can now decide independently whether to continue to require masks and policies vary from place to place.
At the Blue Lobster gift shop in Freeport, owner Khaled Habash was grinning ear-to-ear Monday morning the first time in about a year that customers could actually see his smile. I m happy to not be wearing a mask today, he says.
For shop clerks and DJs, it’s the most wonderful time for their ears
Incessant Christmas music started earlier than usual this year, but even people who have to listen to it nonstop don t mind.
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Kristin Bingham, co-owner of Dean’s Sweets in Portland, loves to hear Christmas music at work and plays it “intensively” for a month.
Photo by Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
Loving Christmas music is not officially a job requirement for people who work at Dean’s Sweets in Portland, but it might as well be.
“Starting Dec. 1, we play all Christmas music, and we play it intensively,” said Kristin Bingham, co-owner of the Portland chocolatier. By intensively, Bingham means all day long and everything from Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” to actor William Shatner’s “Shatner Claus” album. She said her co-workers “kind of have to like Christmas music if they want to survive the season.”