Snow will affect holiday preps

BROWN COUNTY - At Austin Straubel Airport, the height of holiday travel is expected to hit this weekend.

"Because of the timing of Christmas being next Tuesday. I don't really expect serious holiday travel to begin until Saturday," said airport director Tom Miller.

That would mean the busy travel will just miss the winter storm expected to hit Wednesday and Thursday.

"I'd say those are more normal days for us, even coming up to the holidays," said Miller.

"This is winter in Wisconsin, so we're well prepared on that," said Ben Villarruel, De Pere School District superintendent.

In the De Pere School District, holiday events will just be winding down when the snow is expected to hit. Besides a few athletic events, only a middle school concert could be in jeopardy of postponement.

"Depending on if we have school that day, we'll have the event. If we have school canceled, the events will cancel too.

One thing that won't be canceled is Christmas, which means snow or not, people will look to get their shopping done.

"The entire week now from today until Christmas will be really exciting," Judy Tullius, manager of Bay Park Square mall.

Bay Park's policy is if a snowstorm happens before the holidays, it moves snow to a different location. If the snow happened in January, they would just move it to parking spots that aren't used as much.

"What we do is encourage people to come out early. Get your shopping done now," said Tullius.

And while snow could temporarily prevent people from grabbing last-minute gifts, it helps in one department.

"Actually the snow does great things because everyone really gets in the holiday spirit of Christmas," said Tullius.

If you are planning to go somewhere for the holidays, you aren't alone. AAA estimates one in four Americans will be on the move.