Snow removal company travels six hours from Illinois for work in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — As heavy, wet snow accumulates around the Twin Cities, snow removal crews are gearing up for work.
The difference is that Blake Strait with Artic Snow and Ice Products geared up from more than six hours away.
"We came from Frankfort, Illinois," said Strait. "We're not getting much snow this time of year, so we decided we'd come up, help some friends out here."
Artic Snow and Ice Products was in Oakdale on Sunday, helping out a local company with more than a dozen commercial snow removal jobs.
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"It was getting forecasted around a foot and it was going to last well into the night into the next day, so that made it worth it for us," said Strait.
The company was also in Minnesota last year, back when there was a lot more snow.
"We figure we would pack everything up and come up with a big party again," said Strait.
While the work is pro bono, Artic Snow and Ice Products and their half-dozen pieces of equipment traveled this great distance to test out and show off the snow removal products that they make themselves, something that's currently impossible in their state.
The crews plan to work all night and through the morning, or as Strait puts it best:
"Until the job's done, pretty much," he said.