Snow joke: Thirty years after the Halloween Blizzard of '91.

Oct. 31—There is one inescapable fact about living in Minnesota: You have to listen to stories about the Halloween Blizzard of '91.

You can avoid lutefisk. You can duck the misery of cheering for Minnesota's sports teams. You can even decide not to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. But this time of year brings tales of deep snow, power outages, dashed trick-or-treat plans and a few dizzying road tales.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the legendary storm, which dropped an inordinate amount of snow during a three-day period starting Oct. 31, 1991. While Mankato got 20.9 inches, the worst of the storm blew over Duluth, where residents received 36.9 inches throughout the blizzard.

Still, area residents felt hard hit when the storm picked up that Thursday evening.

Shari Baker remembers taking her children trick-or-treating at River Hills Mall that night.

"When we went into the mall, it was not snowing, (but) when we came out, we easily had 7-8 inches," she said. "We slowly headed down Madison Avenue and it was horrible! It was definitely a Halloween to remember."

Many have memories of trick-or-treating and getting plenty of candy because few people were out and about that night.

"My mom had my brother and I wear our snowsuits with bathrobes overtop," Tiffany Ward said. "She put rollers in my hair and said the snow would make it white and we were dressed up as 'little old people.' It was such a great trick-or-treating night! We were probably only out for 15 minutes but had a blast."

Debra Nelson remembers there were very few children at her door asking for candy that night, but the next morning seemed worse as the brunt of the blizzard hit the area as she walked the six or seven blocks to her job at Hubbard Milling.

"I was one of three people who made it in," she recalled. "(It) was tough wading through the deep snow. As a national company, we answered phones with calls coming from all over the U.S. It was a busy day."

Some residents remember how slick it was that Halloween evening. If children slipped, they could lose candy that wouldn't be found until the spring.

Others remember opening their homes or businesses to stranded travelers as the storm worsened.

Waseca County Commissioner DeAnne Malterer and her husband took in plenty of truckers and travelers at their farm during the blizzard, all the while working with 60 cows, farm chores and taking care of their children.

"It was an adventure, an exhausting one." she said.

Sandra Stenzel remembers watching her husband, Steve, take their then-3-year-old daughter Jennifer out trick-or-treating. Sandra, pregnant and tired at the time, decided not to join them. Her husband and daughter drove from Good Thunder to Skyline to visit a grandparent for a little trick-or-treating as well.

Grandma offered to keep Jennifer at home for the night, which Steve accepted. By the time Steve got back home, the blizzard was in full swing.

"We were stuck in our house from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon without our little girl," Sandra said.

It wasn't all bad, however. Several people described being stuck at the hospital for a few extra days after giving birth, or continuing college parties as classes were canceled during the blizzard — complete with beer kegs sitting in the snow to keep cool.

The Free Press reported at the time only 5 inches of snow fell during Thursday night, with more hitting the area through the weekend. Still, the Halloween Blizzard was the worst storm to hit the area since 1940, according to then-KEYC meteorologist Daryl Ritchison. Dozens of accidents were reported in the region, including 40 crashes in the Mankato area on Halloween alone.

Three hunters from Mound — Bud Worner, then 65, his son Mark Worner, then 32, and Mike Mueller, then 65, went missing on Swan Lake during the blizzard but were later found safe.

It took several weeks for residents to clean up after the storm, however. The city of Mankato spent about $72,000 on cleanup costs — about $145,000 today after adjusting for inflation.

City staff racked up 956 hours of overtime from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, forcing the city to keep plows off the street the following weekend due to cost overruns.

And many residents complained of thick ice on side streets throughout the area — street workers received up to 150 complaints an hour during the height of the blizzard.

"God's work is the best work in that instance," then-City Manager Bill Bassett said during a November City Council meeting.