Gallery Furniture hosts 2nd mask giveaway at North Freeway store
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If anyone missed the chance to get a free mask during Gallery Furniture's giveaway last week, they had another opportunity on Friday.
From 5 a.m. until 9 a.m., owner Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale handed out free masks at his store on the North Freeway. The number of masks was limited to two per person.
Just like the event a week ago, anyone could drive up, and the masks would be placed in the trunk or back seat.
But the prior giveaway also had an unexpected side effect: a traffic jam.
PREVIOUS STORY: Free masks cause something not seen in a while: I-45 traffic jam
Although there was a crash in the area, which backed up traffic further, lines were already forming, with nothing but back-to-back taillights captured on Houston TranStar cameras.
TranStar even commented on Instagram that traffic was mostly green around the city, unless you were near Gallery Furniture.
"Shoutout to @jimmcingvale AKA Mattress Mack!" TranStar wrote.
RAW VIDEO: Traffic backups on North Freeway for Gallery Furniture mask giveaway
Mattress Mack is known for being active in our community, especially when times get tough.
Since the pandemic started, Mack has been coordinating boxed food deliveries to seniors, passing out food at his store, and Gov. Greg Abbott even appointed Mack to his special advisory council called the Strike Force to Open Texas, a committee tasked with safely and strategically restarting the Texas economy.
Mack says he is just doing what he can to help people out in this uncertain time.
"I think it's important that it's priority that we all stay safe, and I'm on the economic board to get Texans back to work. So, we got to stay safe, number one. We gotta get back to work. Number two, we're trying to do both of those things," Mack told ABC13 last week.
Though the mask order rolled out Monday in Harris County, it was amended by Judge Lina Hidalgo after Gov. Greg Abbott said during a briefing, "it's not a mandate, and we made it clear, no jurisdiction can impose any type of penalty or fine."
"In practical terms, the governor's order doesn't change much because, like every order we've issued so far, we'd made it clear that the priority was education. The fine was there as a signal of how vital mask wearing is, and in many ways, the community got that message," Hidalgo said in part in a statement.
Read the full statement and see how some businesses are handling the mask order.
The video above is from a previous story.
Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo makes changes to mask order
County by county breakdown on mandatory mask orders
