It’s not too late to do some shopping

Love Pawhuska but find yourself bored to tears with this COVID-19 pandemic? Hope is not lost. You can shop from home, and you can go out for Easter candy for your kids from the Elks.

There’s also stuff you can’t do, like take your junk to the county road barn on Free Dump Day; and stuff you shouldn’t do, like spray the kids with disinfectant products such as Lysol.

Let’s start with the shopping. The Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce has set up a Facebook page titled “Spring Break Pawhuska: Bringing the Shopping to You.”

“This page is for the businesses of Pawhuska — who have stocked their stores for spring breakers, and for those who would like to be a part of the Pawhuska spring break shopping experience from the comfort of your own ‘shelter in place,’” the Chamber said on its new Facebook page. “Since Pawhuska spring break looks a little different this year, we want to give our retailers a place to sell their items and a page for buyers to find all of our great shops and support them.”

This is a group created for businesses that belong to the Chamber and potential customers of those businesses. You have to join the group and agree to abide by its rules, but it is an opportunity to shop for things you might need or like, in a time when interesting shopping experiences can be tough to come by.

Now, for the Easter candy. The Pawhuska Elks Lodge is planning to offer an Easter Candy giveaway for the kids at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 11, in the parking lot of the Lodge, according to Lodge spokesman John Brazee. He said that he had talked to Sheriff Eddie Virden, who in turn had talked to District Attorney Mike Fisher, and the event had been cleared.

Brazee said the way that the giveaway will be organized is that families interested in receiving Easter candy for their children will be allowed to drive into the Lodge parking area and get in a line. When they reach the candy distribution point, they will put down their car window and receive the candy. Brazee said he thought it might be necessary to have two lines.

“We’ve got to wear gloves,” Brazee said, adding that Virden had suggested masks would be a good idea, as well. If you can’t get out to attend the candy distribution, you can text your address to a Lodge member and someone from the Lodge will make every effort to deliver a bag of Easter candy to your doorstep, Brazee said.

Now for the thing you can’t do — which is take your junk to the county road barn. Osage County commissioners had scheduled a countywide Free Dump Day for Saturday, April 18, but it has been canceled. Besides, stirring up the dust around your house with a spring cleaning frenzy probably doesn’t fit in well with “shelter in place.”

Finally, the district attorney on Monday told county commissioners that he learned in a meeting with health department personnel that some folks have apparently been spraying and wiping themselves and their children with disinfectant products.

“People are Lysoling themselves and their children; they are using Chlorox wipes on themselves and their children,” Fisher said, explaining it’s dangerous and needs to stop.