Steele County snowplow is a Blizzard Wizard
Fairgoers at the Minnesota State Fair had the opportunity to look at Steele County’s new snowplow, which was on display near the 4-H Building during the 12-day fair. The plow, which has inherited the name Blizzard Wizard from a contest at the county fair earlier last month, will be hitting the roads and plowing, well hopefully not for several months yet. Staff photo by Rick Bussler
Steele County, meet Blizzard Wizard.
Blizzard Wizard, meet Steele County – but hopefully, not anytime soon.
She’s the newest snowplow in the fleet, a 2022 Mac GR67F, which will replace a 20-year-old plow with 195,000 miles on it. The average life expectancy of a plow is 15 to 18 years, said Kevin Lindquist, maintenance supervisor for the county.
Blizzard Wizard, submitted by Ranae Seykora, was the winning name chosen out of 167 entries made as the $268,000 plow sat on display at the Steele County Free Fair last month.
Seykora will receive an ice cream treat – guess which kind – every month for the next 12 months, courtesy of the Owatonna DQ, owned by Fourteen Foods.
The winning name was selected by a committee composed of representatives of the SCFF and Steele County.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation held a similar contest last year, inviting people to submit ideas for snowplow names. There were eight winners – one for each district – including Betty Whiteout, Ctrl Salt Delete and Scoop Dogg.
The state plow for District 6, which includes Steele County, is named Edward Blizzardhands.