Clearing Snow from Downtown
With more than 16 inches of snow plus the 30th anniversary of the Grumpy Old Men Festival this weekend, the City of Wabasha Public Works Department worked long hours to clear the snow while preparing for the big festival. They started around 1am both days to ensure they were able to clear the roads. A snow emergency was also issued which helped ensure vehicles were removed from the streets to make way for the plowing operation.
In the middle of the weather event on Wednesday, Tony Johnson, the Public Works Director and his team had to fix a loader plow that had broken in half.
“Its great we were fully staff and trained as a department for this storm. We were able to not only clear large amounts of snow, but use in-house skills to make emergency welding repairs on equipment.” said Johnson. ” It was the biggest I have seen the center snow piles (wind rows) in 20 years.”
Riley Costello, the Assistant Public Works Director added, ” Our crew faced many obstacles with this three day storm event, including the plow breaking. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys and all the long hours and hard work they put in this week.”
The City’s Emergency Services also took extra precautionary measures. The Wabasha Fire Department sent in extra support to help the Wabasha Ambulance Service clear snow, access homes and roads for emergency calls. The Ambulance Service also made sure they had a back-up vehicle staffed in addition to a primary vehicle.
“We were very grateful for the extra support,” said Ryan Marking, Ambulance Director.
For the Wabasha Police Department, everything ran pretty well. “People were responsible on the roadways and we did not have major incidents for this weather event,” said Chief Joe Stark.
Wabasha businesses and citizens also showed their support and gratitude to staff, delivering snacks and desserts to staff during the storm.
The docks are now also in for the Grumpy Old Men Festival. Now, with the docks set up on the river, Grumpy attire on, and the plunge hole ready, the staff are looking forward to a happy 30th anniversary of the Grumpy Old Men Festival and the plunge. All in a day’s work of a Mississippi river town!
