Cascade sits where the Thornapple winds in from the east, and its winters come quiet — long gray afternoons, then four inches overnight without a sound. Cascade Township Hall handles snow removal in that corner of the Grand Rapids area, opening drives and lots and clearing the walks that people cross on foot. Plowing goes first, then the edges, then salt wherever a slope or a shaded stretch will glaze over before morning. It is unglamorous work measured by one plain result: nobody slips, and nobody has to stay home. When the sky finally lifts over the river valley, everything is already open.