CARY -- While the rest of the Triangle cancelled weekend plans - in case of snow - the town of Cary wondered whether it should cancel the snow.
The town is waiting until this afternoon to decide whether the threat of real snow is strong enough to cancel plans for 30 tons of man-made powder.
Also waiting are 600 people who bought tickets to attend the town's Winter Wonderland, which would feature fake-snow sledding at Bond Park this weekend. So is Brian Turner, who might have to drive six truckloads of fake snow through the snow Saturday.
This dilemma was born of the town's efforts to solve another: a general lack of snow in these parts.
Long before the threat of real snow hit Dopplers, Cary contracted with "Snow My Yard," Turner's Raleigh company, which boasts on its Web site: "When Mother Nature can't produce - WE CAN." The company was hired to cover about one-quarter of an acre at Bond Park with 6 to 10 inches.
That's better than the 5 to 7 inches the National Weather Service was expecting as of Thursday afternoon.
The town will look at the forecast about 1 p.m. today.
"If the forecast remains for more than 5 inches of snow, we'll cancel," said Bill Eucker, Bond Park's supervisor. "If we get that much, kids can sled anywhere. We can't charge a price if you can get it for free."
Whatever form it takes or whomever it comes from, Tracey Filomena knows her 5-year-old son Gabriel wants to see some snow.
Filomena, a recreation program specialist with the town, would rather bank on the event.
"A controlled snow is something you can plan for," she said. "You can't plan on Mother Nature."
Indeed, the Winter Wonderland - now imperiled by snow - was cancelled last weekend because of rain.
