[ST. PAUL, MN] – Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) today announced the eight winning names of the 2023-24 Name a Snowplow contest. Taylor Drift, Beyonsleigh, and Fast and Flurrious join the state’s snowplow fleet as winners of the contest. Each newly named snowplow will be assigned to one of MnDOT’s eight districts. More than 32,500 voters cast a ballot in this year’s contest.

“Whether it’s a November election or a snowplow naming contest, you can count on Minnesotans to turn out and vote,” said Governor Walz. “Thank you to the Minnesotans who submitted creative names and voted for their favorites, and a big thank you to our snowplow drivers who are always ready to keep our roads safe and help us get to work, school, and back home safely.”

“Rain or shine, blizzards or clear skies, we have a fleet of snowplows and drivers ready to clear the roads and make our lives easier and safer in the winter,” said Lieutenant Governor Flanagan. “From Beyonsleigh to Barbie’s Dream Plow, Minnesotans’ creativity was on full display for this contest that celebrates the important work of our snowplow drivers.”

The winning names, in order of vote totals, and their future homes are:

• Taylor Drift– District 2 (Northwest Minnesota)
• Clark W. Blizzwald– District 3 (Central Minnesota)
• Dolly Plowton– District 1 (Northeast Minnesota)
• Waipahinte(Dakota word for “snowplow”)– District 8 (Southwest Minnesota)
• Beyonsleigh– District 4 (West Central Minnesota)
• You’re Killin’ Me Squalls– District 6 (Southeast Minnesota)
• Fast and Flurrious– District 7 (South Central Minnesota)
• Barbie’s Dream Plow– Metro District (Twin Cities)

Tallies for all 49 finalists can be found on MnDOT’s Name a Snowplow website .

MnDOT invited people to submit creative ideas for snowplow names in December 2023 and received more than 8,000 submissions; most suggestions were submitted multiple times by multiple people. Agency staff narrowed the list to 49 finalists for the public to vote on. This is the fourth year that MnDOT has hosted the Name a Snowplow contest.

Statewide, MnDOT now has 35 named snowplows, including Plowy McPlowFace, Betty Whiteout, and Plow Bunyan. In addition to the 32 named snowplows selected through the Name a Snowplow contests, MnDOT staff have also helped to name three additional snowplows: Giiwedin-The North Wind; Goonodaabaan-Snow Vehicle (both Ojibwe); and Icamna-Blizzard (Dakota) in acknowledgement of the highways the state plows adjacent to tribal lands.

*Note: Individuals were able to vote for up to eight choices, so the final totals will differ from the overall number of votes. There was a total of 32,588 unique voters.