TAMPA - Thousands of Tampa Bay residents weren't going to let something like an approaching hurricane spoil their Labor Day weekend plans as they enjoyed mostly good weather Saturday.
Couples still got married. Shoppers still flocked to the malls. Friends still met up at local bars.
"You could get sucked into the Weather Channel and get updates every 3.7 minutes," said Kim Clark as she sipped a strawberry smoothie late Saturday afternoon at the Howard Avenue Starbucks. "Or you can go outside and enjoy the weather, which is really nice."
For most of the day, the weather was nice. Yet as Clark spoke, a wind gust snapped a tree branch and it dropped a few feet from where she and her friend sat.
"I'm sick of waiting," Clark said. "Let's get on with the show."
Duran Bell found himself at the Home Depot on Florida Avenue, purchasing
Plywood? Duct tape? An armload of Duracells?
Try a brand-new, jet black lawn mower.
"I'm mowing my back yard," said Duran, 27, as his brother Sean pushed the mower to his car. "I've just got this feeling that this one isn't going to be nearly as bad as Charley. I can deal with the rain."
Mary Kalarickal of Tampa attended the wedding of a family friend at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Tampa.
"You can't sit at home," Kalarickal said. "You've got to go on with life. It's all part of life."
Wedding bells were heard elsewhere in the bay area.
John Marks, general manager at the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa on St. Pete Beach, said the hotel hosted three weddings Saturday, including two in the evening after the wind picked up speed.
"For us, it's been business as usual," he said. "They told us no matter what happened with the weather, they wanted to go ahead. It was their special moment, and they want to go ahead with it."
Labor Day weekend is usually one of the three busiest weekends of the year for the hotel. Most of its 347 rooms were filled, but this time it was mostly occupied by people fleeing Hurricane Frances.
Those jonesing for a Bern's porterhouse on Saturday night were out of luck if they tried to make last-minute reservations. Few people canceled their Saturday night dinner plans there, though a few less-than-choice time slots - 5:30 p.m., after 9:30 p.m. - were available early Saturday.
Not only was Busch Gardens open, but most of those visiting got to park in the VIP lot near the front gates.
"I told them, it may be packed, or it may be empty," said Jim McCann, 40, of Tampa, who brought his wife Rachel and two children, Kyle, 8, and Kelly, 5. "It's empty."
The movie playing at the historic Tampa Theatre downtown Saturday?
Gone With The Wind.
Pure coincidence, said Mitchell Martin, the theater's house manager. "We had this planned months in advance," he said.
The impending storm didn't stop about 200 from showing up - including four dressed as Southern belles and one Rhett.
Many were east coast evacuees riding out the storm at downtown hotels.
"A few people I talked to were stir crazy," Martin said. "They didn't want to stay in the house for two days."
Hotel residents also made their way to the Hub bar downtown in droves.
On the bar's TV, Hurricane Frances was menacing the coast, and the doors kept flying open because of the wind outside. But nobody seemed too bothered, said bartender Jeannie Robinson.
"They're drinking," she said. "It's just like a big party to them."
The bar's package store was doing a brisk business in bottles of vodka, rum and cold beer being taken back to hotel rooms, Robinson said.
"Large amounts," she said.
No one, however, asked her to make a Hurricane.
At Toys R Us on Dale Mabry Highway there was a brisk trade in Monopoly, Candyland and other board games, as people sought ways to entertain themselves and their children.
Store director Brent Knouff said they also sold a good bit of sandbox sand, at $4.99 per 50-pound bag, to people trying to keep water out of the house.
The threat of a spiraling menace did not deter dozens of teenagers or protesters from BayWalk in St. Petersburg, although they arrived in far fewer numbers than a typical Saturday night.
Diana Atwood, 15, of St. Petersburg, stood outside the Ann Taylor in her blue jean skirt and flip flops, talking with friends. She arrived at BayWalk about 4 p.m., window shopped and then saw Wicker Park at the Muvico theatre before heading over to Starbucks for a caramel frappuccino.
"The only people who are worried about the storm are our parents," Atwood said. "We don't care. We just want to go out and have fun."
Nearby, Richard Canary stood on the sidewalk, holding a Bush-Cheney sign as cars crawled by the retail and entertainment complex.
"I don't think the storm is going to be that bad," he said, wiping raindrops from his brow.
As rain bands and heavy winds slapped Tampa Bay on Saturday night, however, many of the hardier souls became more concerned about the gathering storm.
About 5 p.m., a violent gust swept across the wooden patio of Rick's on the River, a popular watering hole along the Hillsborough River south of W Columbus Avenue. Reno Agostinis, the bar's general manager, said that helped remind him of what could be in store.
"We're battening down the hatches," Agostinis said. "This is a real serious threat, and I told the band they could go home if they wanted."
But the band, The Differents, decided to play on, filling the night air with covers of Tom Petty, Jimmy Buffett and Coldplay.
"We couldn't cancel," said bassist Greg Sabol. "Look at all the people here. We love playing in front of good crowds."
Times staff writers Anita Kumar and Jamie Thompson contributed to this report.
Pinellas 
