HALIFAX -- A preview of winter arrived in the Maritimes on Friday. All across New Brunswick, city crews were busy salting streets and cleaning up the slushy mess. While the snowy weather means inconvenience for some, it means steady business for others.

With winter not set to begin until December, most people weren’t prepared for the sudden snowfall, but for some, it couldn’t have come soon enough.

“It’s good for business, and that keeps me alive," says mechanic, James Wolthers, who is busy repairing snow blowers for last-minute customers – a service he says grows in demand following the first snowfall.

“There's usually a bit of a panic, and the phone goes steady – they weren't quite ready or they're too busy to get ready early, and now they're a little bit behind," says Wolthers.

Also behind, are drivers who have yet to install their winter tires. Most are out of luck with some auto body shops booking at least two weeks in advance.

“I wasn’t expecting it [snowfall] to be this early,” says Moncton resident, Katie Downey. “Now that it is, I’m going to hurry and get my winter tires on faster."

Residents in Fredericton say it’s a similar story in their neck of the woods, where there’s no longer any sign of Fall.

The snow is raising many questions concerning whether Saturday’s Caledonia Cup rugby game, where Fredericton is set to play Halifax, will even happen.

"It’s rugby, and it’s Canada,” says Loyalist Rugby Club member, Peter Pacey. “So we've had this kind of event happen before for other games."

Members of the Loyalist Rugby Club say their love of the game will most likely have them playing on a field where line markers are buried in the snow – nowhere to be seen.

"I think it'll be one of those games that comes down to desire more than anything because of the weather conditions,” says Loyalist Rugby Club member, Keith McAlpine. “Who wants to throw themselves into the wet or the snow a little bit more than the other?"

Meanwhile, many residents continue to clean up the mess left behind by the first of many snow-filled days to come.