Coming this summer: A chance to name one of Chicago’s snowplows

Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune
·2 min read

CHICAGO -- Snow-prah Winfrey, Bill-izzard Murray or Salt Capone could be coming to a snowbound Chicago street near you next winter.

The city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation confirmed Wednesday that it will hold a contest later this year for the public to name some vehicles in its fleet of almost 300 baby-blue “Snow Fighting Trucks.”

Mimi Simon, the department’s director of public affairs, wrote in an email to the Tribune that details of the competition are still being fleshed out.

“The Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) together with the Department of Assets, Information and Services (AIS) are currently discussing a naming contest for a small subset of snow plows for next year’s snow season,” she said.

Simon says submissions could be taken as soon as this summer.

In Chicago, a pool of 675 motor-truck drivers can be dispatched during a major snowfall.

“For snow, it’s really all-hands-on-deck for the men and women of Streets and Sanitation, drivers as well as other staff,” Simon said.

Each can be traced during these events with the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Plow Tracker.

Other states have used naming contests to raise awareness for winter driving safety and to recognize employees who pilot snowplows.

Michigan’s Department of Transportation whittled down a list of more than 15,000 submissions this month to select the names for its fleet of 330 snowplows, according to the Detroit Free Press. Flake Michigan, The Big LePlowski and Mr. Salty Pants are just a few of the names that made the cut.

Also this month, Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission placed the eight names of its Name-A-Snowplow contest winners directly on its vehicles, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. The monikers are mostly puns on “Star Wars” characters” and ’90s hip-hop acts and songs, including Snowbi-wan Kenobi, Darth Blader, Sir Plows-A-Lot and Ah, Push It ... Push It Real Good!

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has offered a Name A Snowplow contest the past two years. Yet, somehow, Mary Tyler More Snow, Ain’t Snow Stopping Us Now and Raspberry Brrr-et didn’t receive enough votes to move on to the finals.

Students in Vermont chose names for the state’s Agency of Transportation last fall, and North Dakota’s Department of Transportation felt peer pressure from its neighbor to the east — Minnesota — to sponsor its first Name-A-Plow contest in December.