BILLINGS — Amid the annual festivities of the Montana Fair, CaitLyne DuBeau and Frank Marullo work to set up and maintain the grounds as members of Metra Park's maintenance crew.
“We work in the shadows here," said Marullo, the facilities manager, “Rain, snow, or shine, we are in it.”
The two are a part of a 15 person team that maintains the venue all year round.
“We get lists from everybody," said Marullo, "Anything can happen at any given moment – a pen can break and we have to fix it during an event, or animals get loose and we have to track them down.”
This year, during the three week setup period for the fair, last week's storm added to the crew's work.
“We had some porta potties flip and some sheds tip over," said Marullo, "Luckily, we don’t deal with the porta potties.”
Despite pressures of time constraints, this year's set backs, and unending lists of tasks all while covering an estimated 16 miles of walking per day, the two say they enjoy being a part of experiences that make people happy.
“I feel gratification throughout the whole process," said DuBeau, “I know a lot of my other coworkers, they feel very accomplished at the end of the day.”
