Arlington County is seeking fresh flurry of winter wisecracks to name its snowplows and salt trucks.
The “Name That Plow!” contest returns, allowing residents to suggest monikers for the Northern Virginia county’s fleet of snow-response vehicles. The inaugural competition last year yielded more than 1,200 responses. Some referenced musicians new and old: Saline Dion, Sleetwood Mac and Sabrina Carpenbrrr. Others paid homage to historical figures with Sleddy Roosevelt and Clearopathra.
And some were painfully D.C. — see Alex Snowvechkin and Smithsnownian.
“We were completely floored,” Kiara Candelaria Nieves, a spokesperson for the county’s department of environmental services, said of the volume of responses last year.
The three most common submissions last year were Plowy McPlowface, Mr. Plow and Taylor Drift.
After a heavy snow in January caused Arlington County to contract additional snowplows, Candelaria Nieves said the department posted a call for more names on social media and Taylor Drift got a companion named after the singer’s now-fiancé: Travis Melt-ce.
The winners were selected from the most frequently suggested names, along with ones that Department of Environmental Services employees found the most clever. The names selected this year will replace the winning names from last year.
Arlington was not the only locality to hold a naming contest for its winter weather vehicles. In recent years, snowplows with cheeky names have swept the nation, from Massachusetts to Oregon. The witty names not only provide levity in the face of storms, Candelaria Nieves said, but also highlight the important work of local weather response crews.
People can submit up to five names in this year’s competition, which runs through Sunday. The winning names will appear on Arlington County’s online snow and ice map any time the area gets more than two inches of snow.
The Washington Post asked readers to share the stories behind their name submissions. One reader entered four names in honor of each the Racing Presidents, the mascots of the Washington Nationals baseball team: George Wassailton, Thawmus Jefferson, Abe Rink’n and Teddy Snowsevelt.
In announcing the contest, the county urged participants to draw inspiration from “the winter season, song/book/film/television titles, art, sports or any witty take on life in Arlington” but also issued a reminder to “avoid any suggestions that could be considered offensive, political or inappropriate.”
In a region where 1 in 8 workers are employed in federal civilian positions, recent slashes to agencies and federal assistance programs — paired with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — have hit hard. “With everything that’s been going on this year, this serves as a bright spot before the holidays,” Candelaria Nieves said.
She said on Friday that responses appeared to be on pace to surpass the number of submissions last year. That means it will be a fierce competition, as only 60 names are selected — 45 for trucks that belong to the county, plus another 15 for contractor vehicles.
A team from the county’s Department of Environmental Services will review the names and plans to announce the winners around the start of December.
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