MIDDLEBURY — Like many people across the globe, Vermonters have stepped up and started making homemade face masks — both in response to a call for us to wear them while out in public, and to help address the shortage of basic protective equipment for doctors, nurses, EMTs and other essential workers. Practical, and often whimsical and fun, these masks are one more way people adapt traditional skills to address contemporary — and in this case pressing — needs.
Mask designs are drawn from an ever-growing array of sources, with the final results limited only by imagination and shaped by the makers’ skills. The Vermont Folklife Center has launched a “Show Us For Masks!” project, where they’re calling for photos of masks that you, your friends, family and neighbors have made. 
We asked Addison Independent readers to share their mask selfies on our Facebook page — click here to see them.
Email photos to [email protected], post them to the Vermont Folklife Center Facebook page or tag @vermontfolklife on Instagram and Twitter.
This project is part of the Vermont Folklife Center’s Listening in Place project, a larger effort by the VFC to create an archive that documents the experience of Vermonters during this pandemic. Find out more here.