00:00 Plowy McPlowface and Cleopatra.
00:03 Get it? Like Cleopatra.
00:04 They're just two of the past winners of
00:06 Minnesota's Name a Snowplow Contest.
00:09 And it's time again for new entries.
00:11 Joining us now is Anne Meyer,
00:13 spokesperson with the Minnesota Department of
00:15 Transportation. Anne, you know
00:17 just how excited I am for this story.
00:19 And we are so excited that you're here.
00:21 Thanks for joining us this morning.
00:23 >> Thank you, Meredith. We love that we can do it again this year.
00:26 Four years in a row and we've had so much fun with it.
00:29 >> Well, on that note, let's talk about this fourth year of Name a Snowplow.
00:33 Why is this so popular? Any thoughts?
00:36 >> I think it's just because it's fun.
00:38 You know, people can give creative ideas.
00:40 We started this in 2020 collecting names.
00:43 We've done it every year since.
00:45 And it has built up. We've seen other states do it.
00:48 We actually borrowed this idea from Scotland.
00:51 That country has been naming snowplows for several years.
00:53 And like I said, we didn't know what we were going to
00:56 expect when we first started this,
00:57 but it's just been amazing to see how many people get involved with it.
01:02 They get really personal with these snowplows.
01:04 We bring a named snowplow to our Minnesota State Fair every year.
01:07 People love taking photos with it.
01:10 So it's just a great way to get people involved
01:12 and maybe a little personalize our snowplows a little bit.
01:14 Keep people safe out there when they're driving and give our crews room to work.
01:18 >> I love it. The personal connection.
01:20 And a little fun fact for our viewers here.
01:21 Minnesota has about 800 snowplows and that's a lot of snowplows.
01:26 How many of them have names so far?
01:28 And I have to ask you, what is your favorite name?
01:32 >> Gosh, it's hard to pick a favorite. You know, that first year plowing McPlow phase
01:36 really got a lot of attention. It was our main winner.
01:39 We had so much outreach that year. So I still love seeing that plow drive around
01:43 because we do keep them named every season as long as the stickers stay on in the weather.
01:47 We will keep their names on there. So yes, we have 24 named snowplows through the context.
01:53 And we actually have two districts in our state that have named through employees,
01:57 named some snowplows as well. So we've got 27 total named snowplows out there.
02:02 We're going to add another eight through this contest.
02:05 As you mentioned, we have 800 statewide for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
02:09 So a lot more room to grow. We've got a lot more snowplows to name.
02:12 And we just love it. A lot of creative ideas are coming in this year.
02:15 >> Well, on that note, eight this year. I know there are viewers watching who want to submit an entry.
02:20 Our entries already do. Have we passed that date?
02:24 Or if not, when can people turn in their answers by?
02:27 >> Yes, two more days to submit names. We're going to end that on Friday at noon.
02:32 Easy to find us. You just Google MnDOT, M-N-D-O-T, and name a snowplow.
02:37 You should be able to find our website, that submission form.
02:40 We've got a couple of rules. We want this to be fun.
02:42 So no political names and anything too long,
02:45 because we found that longer names are hard to get on our plow.
02:49 So just a couple of rules out there, but already more than 7,000 names have come in.
02:53 We hope that list continues to grow through Friday.
02:56 So just find us. Anybody in the country can name or put in a submission.
03:01 So please join our fun. And then in January, we'll vote on a list of finalists.
03:06 So we'll take this time and narrow that list of all the submissions over the holiday season.
03:11 And then in January, we'll vote on a list of finalists to determine our winning eight names.
03:16 >> Okay, I have to ask you, I don't want to spoil too much.
03:18 We only have a couple seconds here, but word on the street is that there's a theme to the entries this year.
03:24 >> Plans definitely come into play.
03:26 And I will tell you the popularity of Taylor Swift is certainly showing in terms of our submissions.
03:31 So a lot of folks have been finding name combinations with Taylor Swift.
03:34 So I bet you that one's going to be a popular one this year.
03:37 >> I can't wait to see the results.
03:39 Anne Meyer, spokesperson from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
03:43 Thank you so much for joining us this morning and happy winter.
03:47 - Yeah, thank you guys, have a great day.
03:49 - Have a great day.
Comments