TRANSFORM SASKATCHEWAN
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Fonstad enjoying time with Raiders
Bruno’s recovery going well
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Issue 32
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Wellock Road was among the areas of the city that was hit the hardest during the blizzard on Dec. 5. Photo by Norm Park.
Crews had to work hard to clear snow By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The last two weeks have been marked by long days clearing snow for City of Estevan employees and contractors alike, but it appears the lengthy work days are coming to an end. Norm Mack, the manager of roads and drainage for the city’s public works division, said the snow re-
moval efforts in the Pleasantdale, Dominion Heights and Hillside subdivisions were finished on Monday at around noon. Not only has the snow been windrowed in those subdivisions, but those windrows have been removed. Some windrows still remained in the southern parts of the city as of Tuesday at noon, but Mack
expected those would be removed by the end of the day, if there weren’t any equipment breakdowns. “We worked through the weekend, in 12-hour shifts, with two blowers going, and two fleets of trucks,” said Mack. The estimates Estevan received about 50 centimetres of snow through a pair of storms that pummelled the city in late November
and early December. He previously stated that crews had removed about 70 to 80 per cent of the snow from the November storm when a blizzard struck on Dec. 5 and 6, bringing significantly more snow. Even before the blizzard was finished, city crews and contractors were removing snow in an effort to keep roads open. The northern subdivi-
sions felt the brunt of the blizzard, due to the northwest winds that accompanied the snow. Travel not recommended advisories were issued for Wellock Road on Dec. 6 and 7. Crews were at work as early as 3 a.m. on Dec. 6 and 7, when strong winds were whipping the snow around. They started working at 6 a.m. each day from Dec. 8 to 13.
Mack noted the city had to hire a lot of additional contractors to finish the snow removal so quickly. Initially, he thought it would take 10 to 14 days to windrow and remove the snow. “We hired two extra graders,” said Mack. “We had extra loaders from contractors. We had probably
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Moonlight Madness popular, despite the cold By Sam Macdonald smacdonald@estevanmercury.ca
Despite the bitter cold of the evening, there was a sense of community and commerce in downtown Estevan, as shoppers flocked to the 1200-block of Fourth Street on Dec. 8 to partake in Moonlight Madness. “We had a really good turnout, as far as people on the street taking advantage of the retail, as well as people enjoying the refreshments we had,” said Jennifer Pettitt, president of the Estevan Downtown Business Association. “From a retail point of view, it was a really good turnout, and a really good night.” From 6 to 10 p.m., shoppers explored the1200 -block, checking out their favourite businesses on
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either side of the closed street. Some of the attractions featured downtown included a tree lighting and the opportunity for a photo with Santa Claus at Sears. The music that served as the backdrop to the evening was provided by Estevan Comprehensive School students, who busied themselves singing carols over the course of the evening. Businesses offered a number of different attractions in addition to the promotions and sales. Guests were offered hot chocolate and snacks at some businesses, as well as gift wrapping services and even a game of Jenga. “Faith on Fourth had a whole bunch of cookies and baking. It was really nice of them to supply that. We had a lot of people stopping to warm up there,” said Pettitt. Many of the
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offerings, such as the hot chocolate and gift wrapping gave proceeds collected by donation to local charities. Unfortunately, due to the prohibitively cold temperatures outside, some of the events had to be cancelled, such as the sleigh rides, street hockey and food trucks. In spite of that, Pettitt said that all of the businesses involved with the night saw a steady flow of customers throughout the evening. “It met and exceeded my expectations, even though the weather was miserable. It was surprisingly well attended,” said Pettitt. Although it is difficult to provide an exact number of people who turned up for the event, Pettitt said, “The word on the street was that people had stores
Payton and Tracey Mathieson, (right), enjoy hot chocolate served by Marley Seeman and Dawn Densley. The hot chocolate stand was set up at Frank’s on Fourth, and was the product of the business sense of Marley, who donated the proceeds of her small operation to the Estevan Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Photo by Sam Macdonald full of people, and people stayed out there late, which is nice too.” Pettittt said she was “super impressed” with
the turnout of the evening, adding, “People did a really nice job of supporting local businesses, and new businesses downtown on Fourth
Street. You could tell they were doing their Christmas shopping in town, which is really appreciated by most merchants.”
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