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At the start of the school year city staff asked local elementary schools to help them with a SnowPORTant mission: to cheer up our snowplows as they prepare for a long, cold, and snowy winter ahead by painting them.
Eight elementary schools and one high school accepted the mission: St. Therese Catholic Elementary School, Oakwood Public School, St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School, DeWitt Carter Public School, St. John Bosco Catholic Elementary School, Saint-Joseph Catholic Elementary School, McKay Public School, Steele Street Public School, and Lakeshore Catholic High School. Students were asked to paint original artwork on the plows with a theme: school pride.
Six of the eight plows were returned to the city’s engineering and operation centre for the Touch-a-Truck event on Sept. 27, where Mayor Steele chose his favourite plow: Oakwood Public School.
Oakwood Public School’s mascot, the eagle, was incorporated into their plow design along with the slogan “spread your wings”. Students also incorporated the phrase “we make a difference”, and they do, especially for city snowplow operators who now have creatively designed, inspirational plows to join them on their own SnowPORTant mission: plowing our streets.
“It really was a tough decision as there were a lot of schools with unique, original designs,” said Mayor Bill Steele. “I would like to thank all schools who participated again this year, creating a sense of community pride through their artwork.”
Oakwood Public School’s plow will also be part of the city’s upcoming Lighted Santa Claus Parade on Saturday, Dec. 3, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Honourable mention, chosen by Mayor Steele, was Lakeshore Catholic high school.
“The art teacher reached out to us inquiring if they could participate as it would be a fun activity for the students to partake in, given their school year did not start as expected, and they did an amazing job painting the plow,” commented Mayor Steele.
Port Paint and Paper partnered with the city on this initiative, providing schools the paint and paint brushes required to complete their mission.
Fun fact: each school’s plow will be deployed to the route that the school resides in, so the school community could see their plow in action whenever it snows. So, this winter, be sure to keep an eye out on city streets for these newly painted plows.
For more information about winter control operations in Port Colborne, visit https://portcolborne.ca/en/living-here/winter-control.aspx.
To subscribe to news updates delivered to your email inbox, including our SnowPORTant updates, visit www.portcolborne.ca/news.
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