The names are in for Brainerd’s snowplows.
Next winter, Kirby Truckett, Spirit of Carl Showalter, Snokyo Drift, Sir Plows-A-Lot, Cousin Eddie, And Broom Goes the Dynamite, Slim Grady and Frank the Tank will be plowing the city’s streets, bearing stickers with their new names.
Three of the names have film origins. Spirit of Carl Showalter is a nod to the movie “Fargo,” which Mayor Dave Badeaux noted celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Cousin Eddie refers to a character from the 1989 movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” while Snokyo Drift is a play on “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.”
Kirby Truckett is a play on former Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett, who still holds the team’s records for career hits, runs and total bases.
The eight pieces of snow removal equipment being named are two Mack plow trucks, a loader snowblower combination, two Sterling plow trucks, a tractor with broom combination, a road grader and a loader with plow combination.
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The city council decided to let community members submit names for the city’s snow removal equipment earlier this year after the Minnesota Department of Transportation did the same, garnering more than 24,000 name suggestions. MnDOT named one snowplow in each of its plowing jurisdictions, with the plow in District 3, where Brainerd is located, being named Darth Blader.
Brainerd residents submitted 85 names, which staff members whittled down to 10 for each piece of equipment before the city council chose their top three names for each and set it out to a vote. About 260 votes were cast for each of the pieces of equipment.
Back in March, City Engineer Paul Sandy said the naming initiative would serve a dual purpose — some fun for the community and a city-level campaign to promote safe driving around snow removal equipment. If people get to name the equipment, he said they may feel a sense of ownership and pay more attention to staying clear of snowplows when they’re on the streets.
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .
