Current:Home > FinanceIn wintry Minnesota, there’s a belief that every snowplow deserves a name-LoTradeCoin
In wintry Minnesota, there’s a belief that every snowplow deserves a name
View Date:2024-12-24 00:17:28
Snowplows are essential to enduring winter in Minnesota, so maybe it’s not surprising that every year thousands of people vote on names for the giant machines that clear the state’s roads, such as Plowy McPlowFace and Darth Blader.
The often-icy state began naming its 800 plows in 2020 and is expected to announce winners of its 2023-2024 Name a Snowplow contest early next week, adding eight selections to more than three dozen names that already grace trucks scraping snow off Minnesota highways.
“We definitely know snow in Minnesota, and anyone who lives up here knows the challenges of those conditions and the challenges of trying to keep roads safe for folks to travel during the winter,” said Anne Meyer, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which hosts the contest.
The agency knew officials in Scotland had named snowplows for years and decided a similar effort in Minnesota might draw attention to their winter work, Meyer said.
The response in the first year of the contest was overwhelming, with about 24,000 submissions and 122,000 votes cast. Participation has dropped over the years but remains strong, with about 8,000 submissions for the latest contest.
Besides Plowy McPlowFace and Darth Blader, winners over the years include Blizzard of Oz, Scoop Dogg and Han Snolo. Top names often have Minnesota connections. F. Salt Fitzgerald was a nod to St. Paul-born author F. Scott Fitzgerald, while The Truck Formerly Known As Plow recognized musician Prince, who for a time famously declined to be recognized by a spoken name.
The response in Minnesota has prompted states and cities across the country to hold similar contests to name snowplows, from Alaska and California to Ohio and Massachusetts.
New Mexico launched its first name-a-snowplow contest this winter, drawing more than 1,500 submissions and 23,000 votes to name 12 of the state’s 400 plows. Winners included Sleetwood Mac, Mr. Snow it All and Billy the Skid, acknowledging the New Mexico roots of the gunslinger Billy the Kid.
“There’s a natural infatuation with (snowplows),” said Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Transportation. “They’re big, huge trucks. They look great on the road, and they are such a visual statement to the core of DOT, which is helping people get to their destination safely.”
Lincoln, Nebraska, also held its first snowplow-naming contest this year. More than 2,300 people voted to name eight city plows, with Clearopathra taking honors as the top selection.
“We hope this helps develop a closer relationship with people, and we can show them that we are human, too,” said Erika Hill, a spokesperson for Lincoln’s Transportation and Utilities department. “We’re laughing along with them about some of these great names.”
Plowy McPlowFace is a favorite in many of the contests, in part because it harkens back to a rejected online vote in 2016 to name a British polar research vessel Boaty McBoatface. Although that choice garnered more than three times the votes of its closest competitor, officials opted to name the ship after naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
Minnesota plans to keep its contest going in coming years and Meyer noted each plow keeps its name, which is displayed along the side of the vehicle.
“We’ve got 800 snowplows statewide for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, so we have a lot of snowplows to name,” Meyer said.
veryGood! (93)
Related
- New Orleans marks with parade the 64th anniversary of 4 little girls integrating city schools
- Logan Paul's Company Prime Defends Its Energy Drink Amid Backlash
- Global Warming Could Drive Pulses of Ice Sheet Retreat Reaching 2,000 Feet Per Day
- As Germany Falls Back on Fossil Fuels, Activists Demand Adherence to Its Ambitious Climate Goals
- Man gets a life sentence in the shotgun death of a New Mexico police officer
- Matt Damon Shares How Wife Luciana Helped Him Through Depression
- Where There’s Plastic, There’s Fire. Indiana Blaze Highlights Concerns Over Expanding Plastic Recycling
- Karlie Kloss Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 2 With Husband Joshua Kushner
- 'Yellowstone's powerful opening: What happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton?
- A Composer’s Prayers for the Earth, and Humanity, in the Age of Climate Change
Ranking
- IAT Community Introduce
- You Need to See Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen’s Baby Girl Gia Make Her TV Debut
- Matthew Lawrence Teases His Happily Ever After With TLC's Chilli
- This Giant Truck Shows Clean Steel Is Possible. So When Will the US Start Producing It?
- Democrat Janelle Bynum flips Oregon’s 5th District, will be state’s first Black member of Congress
- The Truth About Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan's Inspiring Love Story
- John Akomfrah’s ‘Purple’ Is Climate Change Art That Asks Audiences to Feel
- Antarctic Researchers Report an Extraordinary Marine Heatwave That Could Threaten Antarctica’s Ice Shelves
Recommendation
-
In an AP interview, the next Los Angeles DA says he’ll go after low-level nonviolent crimes
-
In Braddock, Imagining Environmental Justice for a ‘Sacrifice Zone’
-
Companies Object to Proposed SEC Rule Requiring Them to Track Emissions Up and Down Their Supply Chains
-
Inside Penelope Disick's 11th Birthday Trip to Hawaii With Pregnant Mom Kourtney Kardashian and Pals
-
Man waives jury trial in killing of Georgia nursing student
-
German Leaders Promise That New Liquefied Gas Terminals Have a Green Future, but Clean Energy Experts Are Skeptical
-
Tiffany Chen Shares How Partner Robert De Niro Supported Her Amid Bell's Palsy Diagnosis
-
America’s Forests Are ‘Present and Vanishing at the Same Time’