DeVries Outdoors

About DeVries Outdoors

Drake's campus empties its dorms onto the sidewalks by eight most mornings, and when a front's come through overnight, that first walk to class is the whole test of whether a street's been cleared. DeVries Outdoors works the driveways and walkways around the university neighborhood on that same clock, blading the streets and clearing paths down to pavement before the morning rush of backpacks and bike locks. The rest of the job runs quieter — parking areas plowed, steps and stoops swept clear, a pass of de-icer laid down against the refreeze a Des Moines afternoon sun can't always beat back. Some blocks near campus are a mess of tight driveways and shared curb cuts, and this crew works them one at a time rather than rushing the truck through. It's plain work, done early, so the neighborhood can get where it's going without watching its footing the whole way.