MnDOT announces winners of Name a Snowplow contest

Detroit Lakes, MN (KDLM)-

The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced today the eight winners of its inaugural Name a Snowplow contest. One snowplow in each of MnDOT’s eight districts will officially be named this month. Detroit Lakes, which is in District 4, will be serviced by ‘Ope, Just Gonna Plow Right Past Ya’.

The winning names, in order of vote totals, and their future homes are:

• Plowy McPlowFace – Metro District
• Ope, Just Gonna Plow Right Past Ya – District 4
• Duck Duck Orange Truck – District 1
• Plow Bunyan – District 2
• Snowbi Wan Kenobi – District 6
• Salt Fitzgerald – District 7
• Darth Blader – District 3
• The Truck Formerly Known As Plow – District 8

MnDot Commissioner Margaret Anderson Kelliher said in a statement: “We are amazed by the number of creative name suggestions people proposed. We thank everyone for their votes and participation in this fun contest, and through the process, becoming more aware of our snowplows, the tireless women and men who operate them, and the work necessary to keep our roads safe.”

The agency first invited people to submit creative ideas for snowplow names in mid-December. After more than 22,000 name ideas were submitted, MnDOT staff had the challenging task of narrowing down the list and selecting 50 finalists for the public to vote on. These 50 names were determined by considering several factors, including but not limited to how creative or unique the name was, whether it would be understandable or identifiable to broad audiences, and the frequency of submissions. Voters were able to vote for their top eight choices.

You can see the final vote tally for all 50 names here.

MnDOT will share additional information on its social media pages once the snowplows have officially been named and are at work on roads across the state.