The votes have been tallied, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation has announced the eight winners of its third annual "Name a Snowplow" contest.
The "Harry Potter"-inspired pun "Yer a Blizzard, Harry" came in first, with 15,248 votes. A plow assigned to southwestern Minnesota will bear the name. A plow in the metro area will be named "Blizzo," which came in a close second.
The contest drew votes from more than 64,000 people, MnDOT said.
"We had a good turnout again," said spokeswoman Anne Meyer. "We love how much fun folks have with the contest."
The agency held the online contest in January, inviting voters to name one snowplow in each of MnDOT's eight districts. Participants were able to vote only once, but were able to select up to eight names from 60 that appeared on the selection form.
The Class of 2023 and their assigned districts also includes "Clearopathtra" (northeast Minnesota), "Better Call Salt" (central Minnesota), "Han Snowlo" (south central Minnesota), "Blader Tot Hotdish" (northwest Minnesota), "Scoop! There it Is" (southeast Minnesota) and "Sleetwood Mac" (west-central Minnesota).
MnDOT put out the call for names in December, and received more than 10,400 suggestions. Staff members slimmed the finalists based on uniqueness, frequency of submission and Minnesota-specificity, Meyer said.
With the public's help, MnDOT has named 25 snowplows statewide since the contest was launched, including "Plowy McPlowFace," "Betty Whiteout," "Duck Duck Orange Truck" and "The Big Leplowski." Each district now has at least two snowplows with names.
Last year, MnDOT staff in northeastern Minnesota also named a snowplow "Giiwedin," the Ojibwe word for the north wind. The vehicle is stationed at MnDOT's Duluth Truck Station and covers Hwy. 33 near the Fond du Lac Reservation.
MnDOT was the first transportation department in the country to launch a snowplow-naming contest in an effort to bring some levity to winter, Meyer said. Agency officials had read in an article that Scotland names its entire snowplow fleet and posts maps showing the vehicles' locations. The country calls them "gritters," which led to witty handles such as "Gritney Spears" and "Gritty Gritty Bang Bang."
The contest could return for a fourth year in 2024.
"It is still very popular and there are a lot of names out there and a lot of plows in our fleet," Meyer said. "I can see us doing another contest in the future."
