The grim holiday memories of 2006 – the gale-like winds, waist-deep snows, three-day airport waits and the inability to either shop or get to the office — evaporated in Denver during the 2007 Thanksgiving weekend.
Can anybody say “Hallelujah!”?
Jeff Green, a spokesman for Denver International Airport, put it simply:
“We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.”
“Today we had virtually no lines at all.”
Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the TSA was able to keep security wait-lines under 15 minutes around the nation.
She said TSA bosses not only kept an eye on the lines to make sure they offered the most in security and customer service, but on occasion the bosses “chipped in” to help in the lines.
“We coordinated with airports and the airlines to look for peak flows and to coordinate peak staffing for those times,” Koshetz said.
The weather cooperated. In the Denver area, it provided a smidgen of snow mixed with nippy temperatures to remind residents and holiday celebrants that it was time to be joyful and buy.
ShopperTrak RCT Corp. reported late Saturday that the 2007 holiday retail season got off to a “very strong strong start” on Black Friday.
Black Friday sales totaled $10.3 billion nationwide, up a strong 8.3 percent compared to 2006, said the company, which tracks sales at thousands of retail stores.
And while delays at DIA were, at most, “minimal,” no delays were evident on the state’s highways.
“We didn’t have any traffic hassles,” said Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Jordan.
“It’s been pretty quiet.”
Bob Koopmeiners, a forecaster/meteorologist for the National Weather Service, threw the only curve into the great weather.
“We were really warm,” in the first few weeks of November, he said. “We are drier than a bone. We could use some precipitation.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
