By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Some people might consider Basil Chadbourne of Strong one of the unlucky ones.

Early Friday, lots of men were at work or home.

But Chadbourne, along with two other men looking bored, were in the women’s department at JC Penney. Leaning on clothes racks. Before 7 a.m.

He was part of a group of six – three husbands and three wives – in the midst of the year’s busiest shopping day.

The women in the group said they got up at 2:30 a.m. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The men didn’t seem to be engaged in the task at hand.

“Wel-l-l-l, no,” Chadbourne replied when asked if he was shopping of his own free will.

“Choose your words wisely!” his wife, Patti, said with a laugh.

Basil needs encouragement to go shopping, she explained.

“I told him to get in the car,” she said. “We do it every year. It’s a family tradition.”

Was Basil having fun?

“I don’t know,” he answered. Then he and his group began laughing.

Before sunrise

The trend to do Christmas shopping before the sun rises the day after Thanksgiving appeared to be losing no steam in Lewiston-Auburn on Friday.

At 6 a.m., the Kmart parking lot was full.

The same for Sears, which also opened at 6 a.m.

“When we opened the doors we had a line across the parking lot, all with coffee in their hands,” said Sears assistant store manager Maureen Doyon.

Plenty of vehicles were at the Auburn Mall before 5 a.m.

At 4:45 a.m., Wal-Mart’s big parking lot was all but filled.

What looked like nearly 2,000 shoppers stood in two long lines waiting for the doors to open. The crowd seemed to be in a festive mood. Some chanted: “Let’s go Wal-Mart, let’s go!”

When the doors opened, the crowd stampeded. The sounds of pounding feet filled the air.

At 5:04 a.m., Sue Bechard and daughters Kimberly and Jessica of Lewiston were at the cash register. They got up before 3:45 a.m.

“We do this together every year. It’s fun,” Sue said. “It’s something we look forward to. We love seeing the people go nuts.”

They were with friend Debbie Leblond of Lewiston. She had a 23-inch television in her cart for $99. Leblond said she always shops early the day after Thanksgiving. “It’s the fun of being out and doing it. It gets you into the mood of Christmas. It gets you excited, the blood running.”

Last year, Leblond and the Bechard girls shopped all day. They planned to do the same this year. At 5:10 a.m., they estimated they’d be shopping another 12 hours. “We’ll take a breather for breakfast,” Leblond said.

Fellow early risers Carol Casey of Sabattus and three of her relatives had been at Wal-Mart “since 12:15 a.m., outside,” she said. They came for laptop computers and the $99 television, both big sellers.

Meanwhile, in other parts of western Maine, shoppers were just as enthusiastic, if not as early as others.

“They’re coming in off their Wal-Mart high,” said Margaret Silkman, a clerk in a busy Mickey’s Hallmark on Main Street in Farmington late Friday morning.

Several downtown retailers said “Black Friday” is not necessarily their busiest day of the year. But it can be a “bellwether” of things to come, according to Ernie Scholl, owner of Everyday Music on Broadway.

“It’s usually a good day but not approaching the two weeks prior to Christmas,” Scholl said. With a four-day weekend, many people leave town, he added.

“Black Friday” refers to the day when many U.S. retailers make it into the black financially.

Shoppers were in the holiday spirit Friday in downtown Norway, too.

“We’re loving this (new) store. It’s got everything,” said Donna Rice-Howe of Waterford as she shopped with her 11-year-old granddaughter, Jiselle Howe, at Maine Made & More.

“We’re shopping for two little baby nephews who are on the way.”

Dragging bags

At KB Toys in Auburn at 6 a.m., many shoppers weren’t carrying their bags. Too full and too big, the bags were dragged around the store and down the mall.

Shoppers plucked games, dolls and infant toys off shelves, while a line waiting to get in the store snaked down the mall corridor. KB Toys limits the number of shoppers in the store at one time so there’s enough room.

Penny Foster of Poland was buying for “Santa Comes to Poland,” a nonprofit organization that gives to needy children. The community project has been in existence for almost 20 years, she said.

The good deals are why she got up at 3 a.m. to shop, she said. The early morning bargains help her group buy more, she said.

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