JULIAN, Calif. — Julian small businesses are loving all of the extra foot traffic.
"It's been great. People have been enjoying the snow they've been having a good time,” said Faith Branney of Faith's Embroidery.
Branney opened her shop on Main Street in 2020 right before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and teamed her business with Julian's Toy Chest, which has been a staple since 1984.
As the store sold more sleds and retro toys, Branney says snow visitors to the mountains can often leave a big mess behind.
“We get overwhelmed with the trash too, but we do have our trash cans set up locally. Sometimes they get over filled, and we do try to empty them every night,” Branney said.
The California Highway Patrol urged this week that visitors should stay off private property and pick up all trash.
"We can't have people just going on people’s properties. We have problems with that at all times,” said CHP officer Travis Garrow.
Travelers to the mountains did run into some traffic. It took Leilani Felix's family nearly two hours to get to Julian from Menifee.
"We decided to come up here just to get out of the house because of the pandemic, it's been really stuffy inside the house,” said Felix for her first time in Julian.
While at Pioneer Park, kids were bundled up and enjoyed sledding and playing in the snow.
"It's really fun, but obviously cold, I'm not really used to it,” Felix said.
Long lines stretched down the street to buy a slice of Julian's famous apple pie.
Alex Rivera was with his family and three dogs and ordered the traditional apple pie and the apple boysenberry pie from Moms Pie House.
"We live down in Oceanside, so we are by the beach so it is nice you know, from the coast and then to come to the mountains yeah,” Rivera said.
As for keeping the mountain communities clean, here's the echoed message -
"If you bring it in, haul it out, that's all we ask,” Branney said.
Rivera said bring doggy bags and pick up after your dogs, pick up your trash, keep our place nice.
WATCH RELATED: Wind and rain for parts of San Diego County, with fresh snow for the higher elevations (Feb. 2022).