Gay Lynn Love Named Honorary Mayor of Brandon

There’s a new mayor in town, Gay Lynn Love, who with her opponent, B. Lee Elam, arrived at O’Brien’s Irish Pub and Family Restaurant this morning to count their receipts for the honorary mayor of Brandon charity race.

Each year on the morning of the Fourth of July, hours before the start of the Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, the candidates submit the cash and checks they received over a month of fundraising, from June 1 through the morning of July 4.

Traditionally, those receipts are counted at the law offices of Elam, at the corner of Parsons Avenue and Lumsden Road, which is the official start of the parade. But this year, since Elam was in the race himself, O’Brien’s stepped up to the plate to  host the Community Roundtable accounting.

Love is the newest honorary mayor, replacing outgoing mayor Gay Lynn Love, after raising $24,305 for her sponsoring and designated charities. In his campaign, Lee raised $18,954.

Together, the candidates raised $43,259 for charity.

“In this hard year of the economy, this was an amazing amount of money raised over 30 days for the nonprofits of the Greater Brandon area,” said Sam Creaseman, president of the Community Roundtable, which each year presents the Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, the race for honorary mayor, the Father of the Year contest and the Community Affairs Dinner.