Even with no snow accumulation, Smith Co. students enjoy snow day

CARTHAGE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Without knowing how much snow would materialize in Smith County Friday, school officials canceled school — giving kids a long weekend to see how much snow would fall.

Turns out, only flurries fell from the sky Friday, none of it accumulating on grass or pavement.

Brennan Winfree could see the tiny snowflakes outside his store window in downtown Carthage. Owner of The Rogue and Raven, Winfree sells games, cards, and collectibles perfect for days meant to be spent indoors.

“The biggest thing we wanted to do is open a game store for the community,” he said.

Winfree hoped the school cancellation would send more traffic downtown. Winfree recently moved his business to the center of town, where he prides himself on selling games meant to be played together.

“With the nerd community, we’re all kind of shut-ins anyway, and we all kind of like to keep to ourselves, but it’s nice to have a place to go where you can actually have a conversation with people like-minded,” Winfree said. “Now having the opportunity to sit across from each other and play a board game, play a card game – that’s fun to watch. It’s fun to see.”

Sharon Dietzman was scheduled to substitute teach at a Smith County school Friday. Instead, she was in charge of finding something to do with her great-grandchildren.

She decided to take them swimming at an indoor, heated pool in Lebanon.

“Oh it’s cold,” Dietzman said. “[The snow] didn’t happen, but you never know, you hate to be the one making that decision if it did happen and had school, you’d be in trouble. You can’t please everybody.”

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