Turning Snowplows into Show Plows. The call for creativity is not over yet.
Thousands of entries for names came pouring in last year when the Guelph Storm held a contest with the City of Guelph and the Guelph and Wellington Children’s Foundation to name six snow plows.
Now, children between the ages four and 16 can draw what they believe each snow plow looks like. The winning artwork for each snow plow will be blown up and pasted on the back of the vehicle for two full winter seasons. The artist’s name will also be featured on the vehicle.
“Kids that named them will get the opportunity to see their plows driving around the city this winter with faces on the backs of the snow plows,” said Lynn Vanschaik from the Guelph Storm, who is overseeing the project.
The winning names of the six snowplows are Blizzard of Oz, Flocon, Darth Blader, Sir-Plows-a-Lot, Frost Bite and Lil’ Plow Wow. The city also named two of its own plows, Spyke and Stormy.
“So Sir-Plows-a-Lot, what does he look like? Flocon, he's a French snowflake. What does he look like?’” asked Vanschaik.
The winning artists will also receive a gift from the Storm, a certificate from the mayor and an invitation to a Storm game.
Participants must live in Guelph or Wellington County and can use any type of art technique they wish such as animation, graffiti, painting or drawing. The artwork must be in full colour and include eyes at a minimum.
Vanschaik said the organizers of the contest saw a lot of community support with the naming contest last year.
“It was great during COVID, because we really needed something at that time and it was the kids from so many schools and communities from around the city who really participated,” said Vanschaik.
“We need this. We need this because we're a great community and we've gone through this pandemic for a very long time..we just want have an extension to a naming contest to give more people an opportunity to be part of this really unique cool thing.”
Participants can upload their artwork for the Turning Snowplows into Show Plows contest here.