INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis donut shop caused some controversy online Friday after a post showed a photo of a sign that read, “mask optional.”
The co-owner of General American Donut Company said Saturday it was a “misunderstanding” and he took the sign down.
The Fletcher Place business thought the mask mandate in Marion County ended when the statewide mandate was lifted last Tuesday.
Co-owner Adam Perry said the confusion started when he was listening to the radio and heard the statewide mask mandate ended. He then read a quick article about it.
“We just wanted to let people know that we don’t discourage you from wearing a mask, but you don’t need to. It was your choice and that’s how it happened. We were just mistaken,” Perry said. “We are not picking fights with anybody. We are not trying to stick a finger in anybody’s eye. That’s not why we did this. We were just really excited, and we wanted to let people know that they could come here and just be them.”
On Saturday morning the donut shop reopened with customers wearing masks.
According to Marion County health guidelines, business owners must require customers to wear masks and enforce them. Health officials have been in contact with Perry about the health order.
With each county having different mask requirements, Perry said it can become confusing.
“Months ago, we wish we would’ve known where to go—just a place where you can see what the policy is right now because we have tried to follow it and we have tried to be reasonable about it. We want to stay open. We don’t want to shut down. We are not trying to make anyone uncomfortable,” he said.
Last Tuesday Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb lifted the statewide mask mandate leaving the decision up to local governments. Marion county leaders decided to keep it while surrounding donut counties are reportedly following the state’s advisory.
“Once the mask mandate is up for good and in this county, we will redo a sign that is spelled correctly, and we will once again let people know they can wear [a mask] or not,” Perry said.