Manchester will have a unique snow plow this winter

Cassidy Hieber’s depiction of a “snow day” was selected to be painted on this snow plow, which will be used by the Washtenaw County Road Commission this winter in the Manchester area.

You may have wondered why there has been a large snow blade sitting in front of the Klager Elementary School parking lot since late summer. More recently, you may have noticed that there’s now some very special artwork gracing that same large blade.

Thanks to a cooperative project between the Washtenaw County Road Commission and Klager staff, Manchester will have its own custom-designed snow plow clearing M-52 and other local county roads this winter!

Art teacher Carrie Resh at Klager explained, “The WCRC sponsors a ‘Paint a Plow’ program; they contacted teacher Ellen Supers to see if we would be interested.

“Ms. Supers asked me if this was something we could do in Art classes.”

So, Ms. Resh decided to make it into a competition between first and second-grade students. “I had each first and second-grader draw an idea for the theme of ‘Snow Day’,” she said. “The artwork was then sorted and judged by teachers.”

First-grader Cassidy Hieber’s drawing was chosen.

“I had her re-draw her idea large with a sharpie marker,” Resh continued. “We started painting it and (Ms. Supers) took the other classes out to finish it. All of the Klager Kids had a chance to paint it, on one of those really hot days we had!”

The WCRC will give the plow a clear coat to protect the kids’ artistic talents, and that plow will be used in and around Manchester this winter.

The Paint-a-Plow Program is open to any and all schools in Washtenaw County.

Artwork in progress at Klager school on a warm October day! Photos courtesy of Carrie Resh.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.