🔒A Look Back: 2020 was the year of the ‘mask’ cover

Even nearly five years later, it is all-too-familiar to see someone wearing a mask, walking into a grocery store or at a business event.

But, just as COVID coverage dominated the inside pages of Mainebiz in 2020, people wearing masks were also a common feature on the cover.

The May 18, 2020, cover was our first that featured someone wearing a mask. It was David Allen, owner of Allen Manufacturing Inc. in Lewiston, who wore a full-faced plastic shield.

In his hand were the facemasks his company had turned to making. “We didn’t start this to make money,” he told Mainebiz.

The June 29, 2020, cover story looked at how the hospitality industry was approaching the key summer season.

The cover featured Tina Hewett-Gordon, GM of the Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, wearing a black facemask. Another sign of the times: She was featured with the resort’s outdoor tent-like dining structures on the grounds.

In the July 27, 2020, issue, a cover story, “Whatever works: Reinventing the office for a post-COVID world,” featured MEMIC’s chief administrative officer, Catherine Lamson, wearing a mask and holding a bottle of hand sanitizer — another sign of the times.

For the annual Giving Guide, Mainebiz featured a little kid outdoors, playing on a jungle gym, wearing a colorful mask with strawberries.