When the meal was done, the shopping began. A number of stores opened late Thursday afternoon to whet the appetite of Black Friday bargain hunters.
“Opening early this year was a great idea,” said Asa Traung, 46, of Wheat Ridge, as his 12-year-old twin daughters debated the merits of iPad minis versus other tablets at about 6 p.m. “I’m not a Black Friday nut, but there’s not much on TV tonight and this is early enough for me. My wife can be in charge of it tomorrow.”
Others said shortly after dusk that their evening shopping adventures were just beginning.
Karen Maloof of Sheridan had the names of a dozen stores written on a small notepad she pulled from her purse.
Each store name had the time it opened next to it, and gift possibilities listed beneath several store names.
“This is our big tradition,” she said, calling over two of her sisters.
“We’ve been doing this since we were kids. We love Christmas. I think that’s who a lot of the Black Friday shoppers are — people like us who can’t wait.”
Balmy weekend
The holiday weekend will start off so warm that a 113-year record could topple on Black Friday if temperatures meet a projected high of 73 degrees, said Kari Bowen, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Boulder.
No precipitation is expected through the weekend, but a cold front will enter the state Sunday evening, she said.
“It’s just about as good as it could get,” said Mark Aultman, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, referring collectively to Colorado road conditions.
“Most of the roads are absolutely bone dry.”
Salvation Army feast
After the roughest year of her young life, Amy Ellis stood in line at the Colorado Convention Center on Thursday with hundreds of people for a Thanksgiving feast served by the Salvation Army and prepared at the Denver jail.
“I’m thankful that I didn’t die,” Ellis said as she recounted getting struck in the head with a hammer in July, losing her job at Charles Schwab shortly thereafter, spending a month in a hospital and facing eviction next week from her apartment.
Three members of a Littleton family, Eileen Taylor and her boys Kyle, 16, and Brenden, 13, were all smiles at a table stacked high with pumpkin pies and slices of pie topped with whipped cream.
“It’s a good feeling that they can have a warm meal on Thanksgiving,” Taylor said.
Hundreds of volunteers like Michael “Newsack” Griewisch, a member of the Sober Souls Motorcycle Club, lent a helping hand to some 700 other people at the convention center or served meals at homeless shelters and churches.
Tyler Griffin, 17, of Castle Rock, played his “Broncos orange” trombone in the Salvation Army brass band as people streamed into a capacious hall with long rows of rectangular tables decorated in orange and brown.
“I love it,” Griffin said. “We play Christmas carols. Kids come over and sing along.”
