Here's How the New 'Mayor' Was Named in Brandon (VIDEOS)

Before the start of the 2012 Greater Brandon Fourth of July Parade, a small group of townsfolk gathered at O'Brien's Irish Pub and Family Restaurant on Lumsden Road to count the cash and checks received in this year's race for honorary mayor of Brandon.

Starting each year in June, candidates for the honorary post host fundraisers for their designated charities. The candidate who has raised the most money as of the morning of July 4 is declared Brandon's newest honorary mayor. Proceeds from the fundraisers go to the Community Roundtable, which organizes the annual Fourth of July parade and honorary mayor's race, and to the candidates' sponsoring organizations and selected charities and not-for-profit organizations.

This year there were two candidates for honorary mayor of Brandon: Gay Lynn Love, who with her husband, Scott, owns in the Greater Brandon community of Valrico, and B. Lee Elam, a long-time attorney, whose office is at the corner of Lumsden Road and Parsons Avenue, the start of the .

Together, the candidates raise $42,700.47 for area nonprofits and charities.

"It's a humbling experience," said Love, who attended the counting and declaration with her husband, Scott, and daughters, Peyton and Chloe. To Lee, she added: "Thanks for everything you do for Brandon."

Love said she was motivated to enter the race for honorary mayor of Brandon by her daughter, who has Type 1 diabetes. The longtime Valrico business owner has chosen three nonprofits to benefit from her campaign: the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the , which is Love's sponsoring organization.

Elam chose to support the GFWC Brandon Service League and the Rotary Club of Brandon as his two sponsoring charities. 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).

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Highlights From the Video Clips Attached:

• Sam Creaseman, the president of the Community Roundtable, in the first clip, announces that B. Lee Elam's campaign raised $18,394.72. Then, that Love's campaign raised $24,305.75, which made her the person to replace the outgoing honorary mayor, Cami Gibertini. Collectively, the two candidates raised $42,700.47. "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,” Creaseman said. Said Lee: "I'm just so happy we've got another family members in the [Community] Roundtable."

• In the second clip, Creaseman asks the outgoig honorary mayor of Brandon, Cami Gibertini, to say a few words. "I'm so proud of each of you in taking this step forward for our community," she said. "We should really honor the runner-up as much as we celebrate the new honorary mayor." In  her comments, Gibertini told the new mayor that she was proud to turn over the title, and that she trusts Love will, in her position, serve "as positively as all the former mayors have up to this point." (.)

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