
We just learned that starting on August 3, Gay Street will be closed to through traffic and open as a pedestrian mall. We also know that masks will be required at all times except, while seated at a table. Now imagine you are halfway to town to check out said open air marketplace or to grab a cup of your favorite cold brew. You’ve just started to break a slight sweat in the mid-August heat when you realize your mask is back at home on the seat of your car, where you left it when you ran to grab milk this morning.
Thanks to a brilliant idea by West Chester’s Jim Wylie and his wife Eva, these may be mini fits of the past.
Free Little PPE

“Last Christmas I gave my wife an IOU for a Little Free Library that we could put in front of our house on W. Lafayette Street. She has prioritized literacy for her volunteer time so I thought it would be something she would appreciate. I planned the garage-workshop project for when it got warmer. Then 2020 happened.
So here it is July and I’ve finally finished the Little Free Library. Mounted it on a post, painted and readied it for books. But will people feel comfortable taking a book in these COVID times? Probably not.
At least for now, this Little Free Library is filled with masks and small bottles of hand sanitizer. While supplies last.
We challenge other Little Free Library owners in West Chester to do the same. Or maybe add a can of Lysol to the library so browsers can spray the books before and after touching them?”
The gauntlet has been thrown, West Chester. Have a Little Free Library? Want to add PPE? I am sure many would thank you. Have extra hand-sanitizer? Maybe sneak a little bottle into the next LFL you pass?
Plus, how to show your support for West Chester’s open air marketplace and 12 ways to kill an hour in West Chester (once you find that mask.)
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