Chicago Announces THIRD Annual ‘You Name a Snowplow’ Contest
Building on the success of previous two years, City asks residents to submit their creative names for consideration in two-phase contest
CHICAGO – The Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) today announced the City’s third annual ‘You Name a Snowplow’ contest. Chicago residents are once again encouraged to create innovative snowplow names and submit them to shovels.chicago.gov by January 4, 2025. At the end of the two-phase contest, residents will pick the top six names, and those names will represent one snowplow in each of the City’s six snow districts.
This year’s contest winners will join the 13 named snowplows unveiled by the City following the previous contests held in 2023 and 2024.
- Mrs. O’Leary’s Plow
- Da Plow
- Salter Payton
- Sears Plower
- Sleet Home Chicago
- Holy Plow!
- Jean Baptiste Point du Shovel
- Skilling It
- CTRL-SALT-DELETE
- Casimir Plowaski
- Ernie Snowbanks
- Mies van der Snow
- Bad, Bad Leroy Plow
“We look forward to the snowplow naming contest each year, where we see engagement, creativity and Chicago pride shine through with each submittal we receive,” said DSS Commissioner Cole Stallard. “The contest also helps shine a spotlight on the hard work that goes into clearing snow and ice during the cold weather months each year.”
This year’s event follows the annual two-phase protocol. First, the City will gather names from the submissions, which are limited to one per person and 50 characters in length. When the submission period closes on January 4, 2025, or when the City receives 20,000 submissions, whichever comes first, DSS staff will choose 50 finalists. In the second phase, which begins on January 10, 2025, residents may vote for up to six names of their choice by January 21, 2025. The top six chosen by residents will be featured on one snowplow in each of the City’s six snow districts.
Signage for the winning snowplow names will be created and installed on the snowplows, and residents who submitted the winning names (earliest time stamp when there are multiple submissions) will be offered a photo opportunity with the named snowplow along with City swag.
DSS manages more than 9,400 lane miles of roadway with a fleet of over 300 salt spreaders that are fully prepared to respond when needed, along with more than 400,000 tons of salt stationed at salt piles throughout the city.
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