for the holiday. one of america's favorite it also one of our days ? friday.....many stores now open their doors as early as 10 am on the holiday. boomnig ? abc9's stores to find out. thanks tim .... doorbuster or that's what retailers have been calling their r g sale ahead of one of the biggest shopping days of the year. and if you couldn't wait to get off from the dinner table and go shopping today was your day. cheering vo: no ... these people are not getting ready for a championship game at least not in any kind of sport. their championship game is the early shopping frenzy on thanksgiving day. retailers across the country opened their doors to people looking to find that new tv ... tablet or game console ahead of black friday. some of them camped outside the store for hours with a simple strategy. sot: "you gotta be first, if you ain't first you ar last. that's whyou have to be first here getting the best deals in line here on black friday." vo: and to some ... it's not even just about getting those great deals. sot: "we do this every year. not after anything big we are just out for the fun of it really.it's exciting seeing all the people. " "if i can get what i want its' exciting if i can't we just check out other places see what's left over." others simply for the deals "just tv's, xbox you name it. just the insane deals on black friday" "tablets, cell phones, you name i i ... we are trying to get it." sot: vo: best buy opened its doors at 5 pm today and will stay open until 1 am ... before opening up again tomorrow for black friday sales. southern hills mall opened at 6 ... with some stores running through the night and not closing at all. while not as busy as best buy some stores had their fair share of lines. a popular destination ... the malls corner stores. sears manager brad harper has been there for more than 15 years. he remembers a different thanksgiving ... sot: "the old days when black friday was black frfray it was crazy you wowod open the doorand stuff would be flying off the shelf. now it's a couple of days. it's slow and steady instead of fast and crazy." and if you just had too much turkey today to get off the couch ... no worries most stores open their doors tomorrow at 5 to give you a chance for to get that once in a lifetime deal. reporting in studio ... lukas voss abc9 news tim on cam what's being billed as the disneyland of the midwest, is disneyland of the midwest, is offering holiday shoppers a bit of a different experience in sioux falls. badlands pawn chose thanksgiving to open the doors to a 70-thousand square foot entertinament venue. mark roper gives us a tour. " " " "pkg script: [take: sot full at : incue: 14:03:25 outcue: 14:03:30 duration:0:05] and we left to find some cheap this is just the beginning for chuck brennan as he has plans to expand his badlands brand building more stores across the country. in sioux falls mark roper. tim: the guns gold and badlands pawn includes a mint -- a gun range and a 24-hour radio station the entertainment center will host weekly concerts starting november 28th. tim: what started as a small family activity for the owners of rebos restraunt in sioux city....ended up being a much larger event today. once word spread that heather and brain rees and thier family were planning a special thanksgiving meal... donations and help from dozens of people came pouring in. calling it a chance to give something special to those who might otherwise miss a thanksgiving meal the downtown eattery traded out it's usual carrabean/south west fare for a traditional turkey dinner. from 11 until 2 this afternoon the restraunt filled with folks. some hungry and others just hungrey to help. by the end of the day there was more than enought "thanks" to go around for everyone involved. "i give thanks to everyone around here and i give thanks tindian god," said dulfek.$& "i haven't heardhat word, thank you so many times in one day. i guess that's been the best part about it. everything i think we envisioned to be is happening. so, we've been thinking about it fo awhile now so," said rees. tim: winter gear was also given out to the families that were there to eat, and volunteers at the dinner said they were thankful to have been able to share conversations and to come together as one large family. tim: free meals arent anything new at the sioux city's gospel mission. just like everyday of the week there are plenty of folks in need of a warm meal. dozens of folks showed to take advantage of a thanksgiving dinner served byvolunteers.. turkey, tatoto and all the fixings. vovonteers said that most people personally thanked the staff for the meal, one they probably wouldn't have had without the missions generousity. tim: tow truck operators and traffic patrols are experiencing a busy thanksgiving. a sheet of freezing rain followed by a couple inches of fresh snow made driving a challenge for some. in the metro about 2 inches of the white stuff came down. reminder that it's important to clear all car windowns before hitting the road. tim: for those who had to get from point "a" to point "b" .... it still requires less than two-dollars a gallon to fill up. gas stations we checked with were selling at a dollar 92 a gallon. with prices under 2 dollars a gallon... triple "a" says 2015 could end up being the first year since 2003 that the year started and ended with prices under 2 bucks a gallon. industry experts say drivers can expect the trend of lower prices to continue throgh 2016. tim: in d moines today, governor branstad joined members of the plymouth congregational united church of christ to deliver a proclamation. surrounded by the clergy, choir members who dressed in costumes to thanksgiving governor allenges faced by iowans. "thanksgiving day is a time for us to and family and express our apperceation for the challenges that we have met t d the are families state have governor branstad. tim: start thanksgiving every year with this traditrional celebration. tim on cam no word if the governor will be in lincoln tomorrow when iowa looks to run it's football record to o and oh. regaurdless s fans should expect heightened security when the hawkeyes meet the cornhuskers. sarah fili explains why. " " after several major terror attacks internationally, unl police are following suit when it comes to safety and upping security for friday's game. "we shouldn't have to wait for something in our think it's appropriate to take safety as a precaution," bruce claussen, a unl student,said. police will have increased security at doors and throughout the stadium and don't be surprised if they ask you to open your coats and jackets at the gate. they're also closing two gates, 6 and 8, while gates 1, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 22 are closing at kickoff; instead of staying open through the 3rd quarter. students on campus understand why. i'm grateful and surprised that more attacks haven't been made on sporting events just because there's so many people there," harrison rood, an advertising major, said. "with recent events it's understandable why they want to increase security but it doesn't make me fear, i'm not scared or fear going to the game or anything," she said. the university wants to make sure people know there is no specific threat for friday's game, it's just in response to what's been going on "rest assured we enhanced presence fans will be relaxed action on the field, which will be a smith, with unl said. tim: planning on watching the game at t me, kick off will be at 2:30pm a a at 10 tomorrowmorning check out the hehes game pregame show. chris lmquist reports live from memorial stadium while alex walker will be live with fans at the hard rock casino. tim: if you need some help getting in the christmas spirit after thanksgiving, you can take your family to downtown sioux city for the festival of trees. you can view and bid on over 70 decorated trees and wreaths in the hochunun centre atrium.m. then, on december 3rd, the live auction will start with the highest silent bid. proceeds this year will go to the siouxland autism support group. tim: christmas trees again fill the south dakota state capitol in pierre. the 2015 grand lighting ceremony kicks off the holiday season at the capitol. the capitol christmas display includes nearly 1010trees that are decorated by volunteers from communities, schools, churches, nonprofit organizations and state government offices. this year's theme is "christmas around the world." 29-foot colorado blue spruce that had to be trimmed just to fit inthe capitol. tim: still to come... well take a look at a tradition in that was only supposed to last one year " " in the quad cities a on and is now celebrating its 45th anniversary. mr. thanksgiving is a tradition that brings thousands toghether, sarah greene brings us more. (nats of mall) thousands of people were at the south park mall thanksgiving night....but they weren't all there to shop.... many spent the evening eating turkey and celebrating the holiday with bob vogelbaugh, also known as mr. thanksgiving. now, what once was a small gathering 45 years ago has turned into quad cities tradition for thousands. (bob voglebaugh) "it was going to be one time only" (nat) nothing says thanksgiving more than lots of food and good company... it took 27-hundred pounds of turkey and more than 300 hundred volunteers to feed the thousands of people that attended. (bill biggs/ volunteer) "it's not just about the meal it's about people getting togetherharing the difficult times, good times, the happy times. " (sarah pretape) "mr. thanksgiving says year 45 was another year spent with thousands of his extended family members." (bob voglebaugh) "it's like a huge extended family, and it's the best." whether you come as a volunteer or to get a thanksgiving meal....mr. thanksgiving's dinner is something many are thankful for... (zackary albers/volunteer) "all the people come in and it's just an oppurtunity for people to help" (dean dolieslager/attende e) "as long as he has it we'll keep on coming to it." (bob voglebaugh) "i'm just thankful for wonderful friends and everybody that's been apart of this dinner weather they've been a volunteer a diner or a supporter" for 45 years mr. thanksgiving has been helping make sure no one spendsds the hohoday alone and d plans to ep dodog it as long as he can. . sarah greene local 4 news.s. welcome back. the high tempeture in sioux city today was 38 early this morning and the low is 26. let's get a look outside in sioux city on the port neal welding company skycam hd. let's also get a check of conditions outside on the king's pointe skycam hd. snow continues to move out of the region. but there is some tricky travel with ice and snow locally so be cautious if travel is necessary tonight. visibilities remain somewhat limited in southern and eastern siouand. temperatures are in the teens and 20s for most of the area and we have a breezy north wind gusting near 30 miles per hour. here's the stormcast hd now where we can expect mostly sunny skies for our saturday as cloud cover falls apart. then we'll watch as temperatures warm through the remainder of the weekend. tonight's low is 16. tomorrow's high is 30. here's the 7 day forecast. the high temperature in sioux city today was 38 early this morni and the low is 26. let's get a look outside in sioux city on the port neal welding company skycam hd. let's also get a check of conditions outside on the king's pointe skycam hd. snow continues to move out of the region. but there is some tricky travel with ice and snow locally so be cautious if travel is necessary tonight. visibilities remain somewhat limited in southern and eastern siouxland. temperatures are in the teens and 20s for most of the area and we have a breezy north windndusting near 30 0 les per hour. here's the stormcast hd now where we can expect mostly sunny skiesfor our saturday as cloud cover falls apart. then we'll watch as tempatures warm through the remainder of the weekend. tonight's low is 16. tomorrow's high is 30. here's the 7 day forecast. 2 line super: fred hexom we preview the heroes game between iowa andnebraska. stay tuned for that. tim advocare highlights from sunny orlano after the break. team...and when you go 11-0, that's but check out the mccaffery has his upstart iowa team off to a perfect start as well. the hawkeyes taking on dayton in orlando, florida....t.ts.... a battlelef 3-0 teams. late first half....dale jones brings iowa within four....flyers up 35-31.. a few minutes later.....lead down to four before john crosby swoops under a defender....great concenctration.... then right before the half....anthony clemens attacks the rim.....and finishes but the flyers held a six point lead at recess. second half now...clemons goes high off the window...pretty touch...he finishehe with 11 pointsts. dom uhuh impressive foror iowa as well......the hawkeyes would go on a late 13-0 lead but they loss to a quality dayton team...82-77 the final. lost in the heroes game and all that's riding on it is the fact that it's senior day for nebraska. the husker senior class has had an eventful career to say the least, including a 33-18 record, three e bowl appearances and a change in the athletic department as well as on the sidelines. jack gangwish--"there isn't a lot of romance in college football, you know? it's results-driven, you know, you've gotta perform. you've gotta go out there d do well, especially at a place like nebraska." chris palmquist--"that's something these seniors know all too well. last year's 9-3 regular season led to bo pelini's firing and the difficult situation of having a new head coach in mike reilly for just one year. kevin williams--"with the coaching change like this, that's a lot of times, the senior class is the one that handles it the hardest, you know? and i feel like we did a really good job this year with handling the situation and not getting too flustered or angry with the situation and just dealing with it and making the most of it." mike riley--"seniors on this team, that's probably in a transition, that's probably the& hardest group, right?hey've been here the longest, they've been with the former coaches the longest. so i would say that we have been able to function well through some hard times because of the stability of that group." chris palmquist--"that core of 18 seniors will walk out of the tunnel at memorial stadium for the last time on friday, and they say that the adversity they've faced has made them stronger. kevin williams--"this senior class is special to me, man, not just because i'm a part of it, but because they have persevered through so much adversity. that just tells you a a lot about our class." andy janovich--"when the last coaching staff was gone, we all just came realized that we can only really count on ourselves and i think everybody's got great chemistry because of it." jack gangwish--"i'd like to say i'm really proud of these guys. we've had some leaders step up. we've had some guys some good things and stay focused in a time when it would have been really easy not to. they kept in mind that first and foremost we're here to play football, we're here to win football games. we all loved coach bo. but that's we're here for proud of how the chris palmquist--"that resiliency from the niors didn't go unnoticed from their new coaching staff." mike riley--"i really appreciate them for who they've been and how they have gone through this year. they're good representatives of this program, of this school." this game holds coach kirk ferentz as well. his first game as an assistant coach was against nebraska and his debut as a head coach came against the huskers. when he took the job, he knew his was goal was to compete with....and beat nebraska. "our job is to be able to play with those gugu go out and compete with them, they recruit well....they have had great teams in the past. and they have a really good football team this year. so our challenge is to be ready for them." "we are taking it as our next game and its a trophy game and its a big game. its an opportunity fo rus to go udnefeated in the regular season and we want to win this one." and one last reminder that you can get all of your heroes game coverage right here on a-b-c- 9. we will have a pregame show frfr ten to eleven on friday morning. chris will be live in l lcoln at the game, getting g u reports from the players, coaches and fans the hard rock hotel and casino for our border wars party come on down and join us. make sure to bringear