Dustbusters

About Dustbusters

Depot Square is empty and blue-white before any of its shops open, and that's the hour Dustbusters likes best for clearing it. The historic brick storefronts downtown sit close to the street, so there isn't much room to push snow — just a narrow, patient line worked from one end of the block to the other. Evanston mornings after a storm are still and cold enough that the exhaust from the truck hangs in the air over downtown. By the time the first shop lights click on, the sidewalks are swept to the brick and the curb cuts are clear for whoever parks first. The same crew moves on to driveways and back lots once downtown is done, working outward from the old rail town's center toward the newer streets. Nothing about the work is loud; it's just done before the town notices it needed doing.