St. Paul man starts pothole photo challenge to flip the script on winter woes

Pot hole season creating ‘picture perfect’ scenario in St. Paul

With "pot hole season" in full swing in Minnesota from the cycles of thawing and refreezing temperatures, one St. Paul man is collecting the best photos, of the worst pot holes, throughout the Twin Cities metro.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Usually this time of year, driving on Minnesota roads can be the pits. But sometimes all it takes is a little vision to get a different perspective.

"I'm looking for the photo I'm going to be able to frame in my living room," said Nate Hood of St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood.

Over the weekend, Hood started the Pothole Photo Challenge on the Highland Neighborhood Group's Facebook page.

It encourages his neighbors to submit a picture of a pothole, along with the location of where it is, to flip the script on their winter woes.

"I thought we should have some fun with all the complaining people are doing on the neighborhood Facebook page. So I said let's turn a negative into a positive and at least let people know where there are some potholes across the city," said Hood.

So far, Hood has received about a dozen submissions with some getting creative and capturing their favorite craters.

Hood says the sole judge of the competition will be his 5-year-old daughter Hadley but picking a winner will be anything but child's play.

"I think my daughter Hadley is a good judge of pothole character and artistic quality. She's a bit of an artist herself so I thought she would be a good judge," said Hood.

The winner gets a $10 gift card to Target.

"If anyone can find potholes with unicorns in it, you will definitely win," said Hood.

He is looking forward to a picture-perfect photo finish.

"I would say I hope this raises awareness for potholes. However, drivers are keenly aware of it and I'm sure tire salesmen and auto mechanics are as well. We're just trying to have some fun with the season of potholes," said Hood.