Want to name a city snowplow? Mayor wants ideas from Winnipeg children

The City of Winnipeg will be launching a contest in the coming weeks, allowing children to name the city’s snowplow fleet.

Winnipeg kids could soon name city snowplows.

Mayor Scott Gillingham made the surprise announcement during the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at city hall Monday evening.

“I want to let everybody know there’s something more to come in the coming weeks. We need you to stay tuned,” Gillingham said. “We need the children of Winnipeg to help us name our snowplows.”

The mayor said more information would be released in the coming weeks.

It’s an idea several other cities across the country have already been doing.

In Ottawa, 500 names were submitted by children. Those were then voted on, narrowing it down to 24 winners.

The names selected can be quite creative.

Sir Plows a Lot, Tim Snowtons, Taylor Drift, Blizzard Wizard and Plowy McPlowFace are among the winning names.

Read more: Here are the names for Ottawa’s 24 snowplows this winter

Winnipeggers have already been musing on some ideas – Dale Plower-truck and Winnie the Plow were among the names residents had jokingly tossed around in a previous post on social media.

According to the city, an average snow clearing operation requires about 300 pieces of heavy equipment which clear more than 7,200 kilometres of roads and more than 3,000 kilometres of sidewalks and pathways.

A city spokesperson told CTV News a formal announcement about the snowplow naming will be made later this week.

-with files from CTV’s Colleen Bready and Josh Pringle