Main Street vendor weathers the cold

By JAMES CLARK / Editor of the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

Even though there was snow on the ground and the temperatures never escaped the teens yesterday, Brian Curran still operated his hot dog stand on Main Street. (James Clark photo)

How cold was it yesterday in McMinnville? It was cold enough to freeze mustard. Just ask Brian Curran, who didn’t let the bone-chilling temperatures keep him from selling hot dogs on Main Street.

“I had a customer ask me what was wrong with the mustard,” said Curran, who operates The California Doggery, a hot dog stand which recently opened downtown. “When I took a look, it was frozen.”

The temperature never climbed out of the teens yesterday. Combined with a brisk wind, estimates placed the wind-chill factor at around zero.

“This has definitely been our coldest day thus far,” said Brian’s wife, Wendy. “But people are still buying hot dogs.”

Some of them, however, pulled up alongside the hot dog stand and placed their order from the comfort of their car.

“They think this is their drive-thru window,” said Wendy pointing to the area directly in front of the stand.

The chilly day kept many students from playing in the snow during their day off from school. There wasn’t much outdoor activity around McMinnville yesterday afternoon with the exception of a few kids who braved the cold to get in a few minutes of sledding.

“I think I must have on 20 shirts,” said Samuel Barnes who was sledding with friends in Westwood.

The National Weather Service was predicting overnight temperatures to drop below zero last night. In Warren County, the temperature was expected to dip to minus 5. The predicted high today is expected to climb out of the teens and reach around 22 degrees.