B. Lee Elam and GayLynn Love have announced their intentions to become the next honorary mayor of Brandon, attendees learned at the May 9 meeting of the Community Roundtable, which runs the annual race on behalf of charity.

Elam was in attendance at Center Place, but Love could not make the event.

Both candidates, however, will be at the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association on May 24, when the public is invited to meet the candidates, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Also at the event will be a chance to meet former honorary mayors, who have been invited to participate.

"They were trying to get candidates and nobody was stepping up," Elam said. "I said, 'If nobody else runs, I will.' They said, 'Step up or shut up' so I said, 'Okay.' I enjoy helping out people who raise money for charity."

Elam said he wasn't too sure how his wife would react, though.

"For one thing, I knew my wife would go crazy if I ran, and she did," Elam said.

He easily appeased her, though, when he declared as one of his two sponsoring charities the GFWC Brandon Service League, for which his wife has been an active member for more than a quarter-century. His second sponsoring charity if the Rotary Club of Brandon, for which Elam has been a long-time member.

His designated charities are the Bill Carey Unit Boys & Girls Club of Brandon, which Elam helped found; the GFWC Brandon Service League Scholarship Fund; and the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO).

In her application for the race, Love said she is a graduate of King High School and Hillsborough Community College and, with her husband, Scott, owns Love's Tire and Service Center, established in Brandon in 1996.

Her "platform" is "to promote awareness of what it means to have Type 1 diabetes, as well as to support and encourage those in the Brandon area who struggle with the disease and its effects."

Her aim is "to contribute to research for a cure and provide funding that is really needed."

Love's sponsoring agency is the Brandon Family YMCA at 3097 Kingsway Road in Seffner. Her designated charities are the Juvenile Diabetes Reasearch Foundation and the YMCA. 

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5 Things To Know About The Race For Honorary Mayor Of Brandon

1. The race for honorary mayor of Brandon is run by the Community Roundtable, an umbrella organization for area charities and businesses in support of charitable endeavors. The group also runs the annual Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, at which time the new mayor is announced.
2. The candidate who raises the most money in the month of June and through the morning of the parade is "elected" to the honorary position.
3. Each candidate contributes 10 percent of the money raised to the Roundtable and 10 percent to the sponsoring organization attached to each race. The remaining money is distributed to the candidate's charities of choice.
4. The single-candidate fundraising record is held by James Young Jr., who in 2005 raised $75,001. (He was aided by Ryan Odiorne, the outgoing mayor, who served as the race's first, and only, "deputy mayor.")
5. The mayor's job is to serve as a dignitary throughout the year at such things as town events and business ribbon-cuttings.

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Who Were The Honorary Mayors Of Brandon?

A plaque recognizing the honorary mayors of Brandon hangs on the second floor of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce building.

Starting with Nat Storms in 1959, the plaque recognizes "those citizens who cared enough to get involved." It further reads: "Through their collective efforts, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to help charitable causes in the Greater Brandon community."