Mask Time

SAT 8/23

Putting on a Yoda mask is fun, that’s true. But the latex jobs you pick up at the neighborhood drugstore have got nothing on the creations in Spirit of the Mask, opening at the Johnson County Museum of History (6305 Lackman Road) this Saturday.

Included in Carla Hanson’s vast collection is a full body mask made of bark, with a built-in skirt to conceal the wearer’s body. It was made in the 1970s by the Waiwai Indians of Brazil. Though this might qualify as the weirdest of the masks Hanson has brought to the museum, the others are no less foreign.

There’s the Hungarian mask, which looks like a guy with a braided mustache who has decided to dress up as a ram — horns and all. When looking at the colorful Kwakiutl (Thunderbird) mask, it’s hard to believe it came from as nearby as British Columbia.

Caribou skin, cow teeth, horsehair, jewels, gold leaf, coins and jewels number among the many materials found in the exhibit.

For her part, Hanson struggles to put her love for masks into words. She bought the first in her collection at an estate sale in 1993, and now she has more than 300. “I think about them constantly,” she says.

For information and a schedule of mask activities for kids, call 913-631-6709.— Gina Kaufmann

Glowstick Fever

Kids still roller-skate.

ONGOING

Sam Watson of Watson’s Rolladium Sk8 Center (513 S.W. Keystone Drive in Blue Springs) understands why kids like playing with the tongue lights that he sells. “Kids are crazy,” he says with a laugh.

Most days, the oldest kid in Watson’s is about thirteen years old. And though the bangs have flattened since the heyday of roller rinks, the games have not changed. Youngsters compete in the limbo and the hokey pokey. They test their skills trying to “shoot the duck” — that’s when you go down on one leg with one leg extended in front of you and see how long you can keep rolling.

On Wednesday nights, kids under 12 skate for $1. And for the parents, Sunday is Oldies Night. For information, call 816-229-7793.— Kaufmann