PORTLAND, Maine — As the mask mandate is lifted in Maine, businesses now have to decide if they will still mandate masks. Hannaford and other stores in Maine will no longer require masks for fully vaccinated shoppers. But some businesses are going a step further and not mandating anyone to wear masks, like at Dock Fore in Portland.
In fact, the bar and restaurant is holding a mask burning party on Monday night.
Dock Fore owner Shaun McCarthy said that over the past 14 months, he and his staff would joke about having a mask burning party when restrictions loosened.
"It's just nice to be able to have fun again because that's what we're in, we're in the fun business," McCarthy said.
McCarthy and his staff at Dock Fore took down the plexiglass and "mask required" signs as the state's mask mandate ended on Monday. McCarthy said he has taken all the necessary precautions to keep customers safe through the pandemic, but now he's ready to move forward.
"[We] didn't have any outbreaks here, everybody stayed safe, we followed the guidelines to a T and it's just very, very, very refreshing to get back to the way life used to be," he said.
Not every business will be dropping its mask mandate.
Dmitry Bam, a professor at the University of Maine School of Law, said each private business has to figure out how it wants to handle masking guidelines going forward.
"The way that our law operates, businesses and employers have a lot of freedom," Bam said.
He added that while businesses have this freedom, they can't discriminate and say they are only requiring masks or proof of vaccination for some people—for example, based on race or gender.
"Then the question becomes what is a reasonable accommodation you know how much do you have to accommodate someone who is not willing or not able to wear a mask or get vaccinated," Bam said.
Back at Dock Fore, while masks are not mandatory, customers and employees are still welcome to wear them if they choose. McCarthy said the majority of his staff is fully vaccinated and is looking forward to tourism season.
"It's one of those things that if everyone started doing it earlier, maybe we would have been having this party a couple months earlier," McCarthy said.
While the mask mandate is ended for most indoor spaces, there are some places where masks will still be required including hospitals, health care facilities, schools, daycares, and public transportation.