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Remembering the Blizzard of 1996

FOREST CITY — The blizzard of January 1996 is one of those events where you remember where you were and what you did when it happened. Fast forward 20 yea...

FOREST CITY -- The blizzard of January 1996 is one of those events where you remember where you were and what you did when it happened.

Fast forward 20 years, and this winter looks a little different.

For the people in Forest City, they know snow and it seems like it never leaves. But for people like Michael Ondrako, the cheese at Elegante's is only white stuff he's scraping this year. But the memories of 20 years ago live on.

"It was a good time," said Ondrako. "Me and my friends would dig the igloos have fun all day long."

"We were closed that day because the Governor had issued a state of emergency so we were shut down that day and went into work the next day to dig out sidewalks," said Ken Stafursky.

At the Waymart Building Center, the owner is seeing a lot more people this winter buying lumber inside this barn, as opposed to the rock salt that's stacked up.

"If you had snow shovels, roof racks, that type of thing - you were busy," said owner Chuck Grimm, who remembers those treacherous drives in the storm from his home in Forest City to his hardware store in Waymart. But these days, despite his snow shovels sitting on the shelves, he isn't complaining.

"This winter is beautiful," said Grimm. "There plenty of work, we're able to ship lumber. Rock salt and snow shovels, it's just something you have to have with those type of storms."

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