Steele County purchased a brand new snow plow in June, and following recent efforts by MnDOT, the county sought suggestions from residents for names for the newest addition to the road-clearing fleet.

Steele County Free Fair visitors were encouraged to submit names for the plow which was on display at the 2022 fair.

In the past two years, the Minnesota Department of Transportation did the same for their statewide equipment, taking a page out of the playbook from Scotland who has been naming their snow plows for a while now.

 

Since 2020, MnDOT has named sixteen plows, first taking suggestions from Minnesota residents, then conducting a statewide vote on the finalists.

Minnesota Department of Transportations 16 Named Plows

  • Darth Blader
  • Duck, Duck, Orange Truck
  • F. Salt Fitzgerald
  • Ope, Just Gonna Plow Right Past Ya
  • Plow Bunyan
  • Plowy McPlowFace
  • Snowbi Wan Kenobi
  • The Truck Formerly Know As Plow
  • Betty Whiteout
  • Ctrl Salt Delete
  • The Big Leplowski
  • Plowasaurus Rex
  • Scoop Dogg
  • Blizzard of Oz
  • No More Mr. Ice Guy
  • Edward Blizzardhands

And now, thanks to Ranae Seykora, out of 167 submitted entries at the Steele County Free Fair the new plow has been named <drum roll>...

"Blizzard Wizard"

Representatives from Steele County and the Steele County Free Fair drilled down on the submissions, ultimately selecting the winning entry.

The Blizzard Wizard is a 2022 Mac GR67F, replacing a 20-year-old plow with 195,000 miles on it. That's a lot of snow and ice scraped off the highway.

Thanks to Owatonna's Dairy Queen, Ranae Seykora will get a free DQ Blizzard treat a month for a year.

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