Rugby mail carrier Cory Lund braves bitter cold to deliver mail to Rugby residents.

Workers throughout the area kept things moving in harsh winter conditions during a time most people’s thoughts turned to Christmas presents and parties.

Business owners kept their doors open as much as they could between periods of heavy snow Dec. 14-16.

Bonnie Berginski, owner of Rugby’s Rockin’ Relics, shoveled sidewalks on her restaurant’s side of Main Avenue south to Rugby City Hall, where she cleared the building’s steps.

After the snow let up, a blast of Arctic cold descended on the area. Temperatures sank to double-digits below zero. At noon on Dec. 20, thermometers in some parts of Rugby registered -20.

Most workers stayed indoors, but some, like Rugby postal workers, had people depending on them.

Mail carriers braved the cold by dressing in heavy layers and walked their routes as they have every day.

One carrier who said she was willing to chat declined to give her name. She said wearing layers helped her brave the extreme cold on her ten-mile route. “I wear six layers on top and three on the bottom,” she said.

Her coworker, Cory Lund, used a truck to deliver mail on a route that split areas throughout Rugby. Most of his deliveries, however, required walking through several neighborhoods.

“I jump around,” he said. “I have a partial route on the north side of town and basically go all around town.”

“We have hand warmers, an endless supply, and that helps,” Lund added. “And if we have the truck, we can hide in there a little bit between relays and try to warm up.”

“Otherwise, it’s mainly stay moving. Wear enough layers and stay moving,” he said of the way mail carriers cope with the dangerous cold.