Here Are The Winners Of MNDOT’s 3rd Annual Name A Snowplow Contest
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced the winners of their 3rd annual Name A Snowplow Contest; the eight selections for 2023 will join the agencies fleet of trucks statewide.
What's surprising? Some of the more Minnesota-centric nominees didn't make the final selection by voters.
According to details shared by MNDOT, more than 64,000 people took part in the fun contest that's becoming an annual event. The agency selects eight winners - one for each of the districts that the state is split up into.
The winners? Here they are:
- District 1 - (Which includes Duluth and the Northland): Clearopathra
- District 2 - (Northwest Minnesota): Blader Tot Hotdish
- District 3 - (Central Minnesota): Better Call Salt
- District 4 - (West Central Minnesota): Sleetwood Mac
- District 5 - (The Twin Cities Metro): Blizzo
- District 6 - (Southeast Minnesota): Scoop! There It Is
- District 7 - (South Central Minnesota): Han Snowlo
- District 8 - (Southwest Minnesota): Yer A Blizzard, Harry
While the winning names for 2023 are certainly creative, it is surprising that some of the more Minnesota-centric names didn't end up winning. While you could make an argument that "Blader Tot Hotdish" has ties to the state, there were others that had more direct-ties to the spirit of the state - including head nods to Bob Dylan (as "Bobsled Dylan"), Mary Tyler Moore ("Mary Tyler More Snow"), Prince ("Paisley Plow"). the Vikings ("SKOL Plow"), Louie Anderson ("Plowie Anderson"), and others.
It's interesting to note that the top eight snowplow names selected each received more then ten-thousand votes, while the snowplow name that just missed the cut ("Taylor Drift") collected 9.921 votes.
Now that the voting is over, the winning names will be painted on the trucks in the district that they were chosen to represent, joining the winning names from 2022 and 2021.