Madison, Wisconsin, Let People Name Their New Snowplows — and They’re Puntastic

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, which means it’s the time of year to name snowplows with some adorable and weather-appropriate punny names!

The Contest

In what has quickly become an international tradition, cities and states that experience high snow-falls during the winter have opened up the option of naming their new snowplows each year to the public. In 2021, even Scotland got in on the fun. People truly bring their A-game creativity to these municipal competitions — usually in the form of witty wordplay and pop-culture references.

For example, in Scotland, the winning names included “You’re a Blizzard Harry” (quoting the famous line from Harry Potter), Sled Zeppelin, Salt Disney, Mary Queen of Salt, and On Her Majesty’s Slippery Surface. Minnesota’s 2022 competition resulted in the incredible name Clearopathra, with some notable past winners being Ctrl Salt Delete, and The Truck Formerly Known As Plow.

Thanks to GPS-operated apps, people all around the world can follow the different snowplows and their punny names from their phones.

Madison’s Winners

This year, Madison, Wisconsin, ran its own snowplow naming competition. People dug deep and came up with some incredibly creative, geeky, and funny puns to call their new snowplows. Notable entries that didn’t make the cut, unfortunately, include Brine of Tarth for the Game of Thrones fans out there, KeaNo Freeze as a tribute to the beloved actor and internet sweetheart, and for the science geeks among us, Albert Brinestein and Snowdium Clearride were given as options for the new snowplows.

The winners, however, are just as great! With 1,630 votes, the chief salting truck has been aptly named Saltimus Prime. The city’s bike path plower has been given the name Snowbi Wan Kenobi after the agile Star Wars Jedi with 1,910 votes. Madison’s loader/plow has been dubbed Seymour Pavement, and finally, in a bout of genius, the dual Wing Plow Truck has been named Dolly Plowton. We’re sure the beloved country singer is proud and honored.