The City of Madison, Wisconsin just announced the winners of the Wisconsin Salt Wise naming contest for the various vehicles in Madison's snow removal fleet—and they do not disappoint! WMTV NBC15 reports:
The people have spoken, and they have chosen wisely, with the names Saltimus Prime, Snowbi Wan Kenobi, Seymour Pavement, and Dolly Plowton floating to the top.
According to the City of Madison, each of the pieces of equipment received over 3,000 votes from dedicated supporters. The Quad Axle Brine Truck beat, now known as Saltimus Prime, edged out 15 other candidates, including Barbara Salters and Sweet Carolbrine.
The name in the race for the Bike Path Plow, Snowbi Wan Kenobi, won in a landslide victory, earning over 1,000 votes with the runner up, Austin Plowers, earning an admirable 352.
The voting was set up as ranked choice system where voters select their top five picks. The top five candidates in the race for the Double Wing Plow Truck were Kung Plow Chicken, Pushy McDriftyflakes, Snowsferatu, Blizzo and the winner, Dolly Plowton.
Last but certainly not least, Seymour Pavement took home the title of naming the new Loader with Plow and Wing, narrowly advancing passed Scoopy Doo with a narrow margin of less than 15 points.
Check out this link to see a list of all of the contenders—they're all winners, in my book. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the people should ALWAYS get to choose names for things like this, despite what some might think (within reason, of course—I certainly wouldn't advocate for names that were racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.). For the record, I am still bitter that the British government rejected the crowd-sourced name—Boaty McBoatface, which was, of course, perfect in every way—for the National Environmental Research Council's $287 million polar research ship. Hrmph.
