Plow Bunyan is Brainerd’s newest snowplow

Aug 18, 2023

BRAINERD — Plow Bunyan will be roaming the streets in Brainerd beginning this winter, or whenever the snow starts to fly.

City Council members agreed on the moniker for the city’s newest plow during their meeting Monday, Aug. 8. They had three choices to pick from, after members of the public sent in dozens of name suggestions earlier this year. City officials put the top 37 out for residents to vote on in June and then presented the top three vote-getters to the council Monday.

Plow Bunyan ranked No. 1 among voters, paying homage, of course, to the famed Paul Bunyan. His trusty ox was represented, too, with Blade the Blue Ox coming in third. Voters’ second choice honored the “Star Wars” fandom with Snowbegone Kenobi.

“I will say, since before we saw the Top 3, my favorite was Snowbegone Kenobi, and I’m not even a ‘Star Wars’ guy,” said Mike O’Day, chair of the council’s Safety and Public Works Committee. “But, Plow Bunyan, in my opinion, we go with Plow Bunyan.”

Committee member Tiffany Stenglein said perhaps Snowbegone Kenobi will come back in the future.

The rest of the City Council agreed to Plow Bunyan during the full council meeting later Monday night, with no discussion on the matter.

“I can’t believe there wasn’t more controversy on that one,” O’Day joked after the unanimous vote.

The new truck will replace Cousin Eddie, a dump/plow truck the city had to retire this year.

“‘Cousin Eddie’ has performed his service well and has reached a most-deserved retirement,” the city wrote on its Facebook page in May.

Plow Bunyan will join fellow snow removal comrades Kirby Truckkett, Spirit of Carl Showalter, Snokyo Drift, Sir Plows-A-Lot, And Broom Goes the Dynamite, Slim Grady and Frank the Tank. Each named piece of equipment bears a label with its name.

The equipment was named in 2021 as part of an educational campaign to promote safe driving around snowplows and to have a little fun, following in the footsteps of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

About 85 name suggestions were submitted in 2021 and about 260 votes cast for each piece of equipment.

MnDOT has named 25 snow plows since 2021, allowing the public to suggest and vote on names in each year. The three named plows for District 3, which covers Brainerd, are Darth Blader, Scoop Dogg and Better Call Salt.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at [email protected] or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .

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