Arts & Entertainment

Da Plow Naming Contest Is Back. Here’s How to Enter

Got a good snow pun? Enter it in Chicago’s fourth annual “name a snowplow” contest.

Extra points if you can combine it with a reference to a homegrown celebrity or a bit of Chicago trivia. Think Mrs. O’Leary’s Plow, Salter Payton or Snower Wacker — all past winners.

Submissions are due at Chicagoshovels.org by Jan. 10, 2026. There’s a limit of one entry per person; length is capped at 50 characters.

Staff in the Department of Streets and Sanitation will narrow entries down to 25 finalists, which will be revealed Feb. 1. The public will then vote for their favorites and the top six will be the winners. Why six? That’s the number of city snow districts.

Here are the 19 names chosen in previous years. The word “plow” shows up 10 times on this list, just saying.

Mrs. O’Leary’s Plow

Da Plow

Salter Payton

Sears Plower

Sleet Home Chicago

Holy Plow!

Jean Baptiste Point du Shovel

Skilling It

CTRL-SALT-DELETE

Casimir Plowaski

Ernie Snowbanks

Mies van der Snow

Bad, Bad Leroy Plow

Bozo the Plown

Lollaplowlooza

My Kind of Plow

Snower Wacker

Scoop, There It Is!

Bean There, Plowed That

Contact Patty Wetli: [email protected]