(Photo/Russ Hanson)

The water tower erected last summer in south Moorhead has been named “Tank of the Year” in the annual “beauty contest” sponsored by coatings manufacturer Tnemec Inc. of Kansas City.

Designed by graphic artists Stephen Dorsey and Jack Lunde, the tower’s award-winning artwork features a cavalcade of south Moorhead images against a background of a plowed field — a performer at Bluestem Center for the Arts, the “crazy tree” on 12th Avenue South near Concordia, a golfer, a jogger and a dog-walking resident.

It’s the second time a local water tower has been in the running for top honors in the contest, which began in 2006. The Woodlawn Park tower art, also designed by Dorsey and Lunde, was a runner-up two years ago.

Public Service Commission director Travis Schmidt said the online vote for the top honor was a squeaker. “We were keeping an eye on it, and it kept going back and forth,” he said. “We were excited to receive notification from Tnemec.” 

The tower’s triumph delivers bragging rights, he said, but no tangible prize. 

“It’s been a great collaborative effort,” he said of the project, which involved the city’s Arts and Culture Commission along with MPS and the city council.

The fourth and final water tower in the city’s multi-year renovation and expansion project, located just north of Interstate 94 near 20th Street South, has already been entered in Tnemec’s 2022 contest.

More than 300 freshly painted towers from across the United States and Canada were entered in the competition. Rochester, Minnesota’s iconic ear-of-corn tower received the People’s Choice award.