One Northern Michigan town elected a new Mayor on Saturday.
Rosie Disch, the new Mayor of Omena, is a yellow lab.
Chicken, and dogs, and goats—oh my!
Each are just some of the nineteen candidates that ran to be Omena’s next Mayor.
Even though most towns could never see an animal as mayor, in Omena it’s become a tradition.
President of the Omena Historical Society, Sally Shapiro says, “We’re an unincorporated village with no president or mayor. So we created the mayor out of animals.”
Every three years they elect a new mayor.
This year marks the fifth animal mayor of the town has had.
“We’ve had three dogs, a cat, and a big reveal today as to who the next mayor will be for the next three years,” says Shapiro.
Each animal and human have been campaigning for different platforms. Each vote for a candidate is one dollar donated towards the Omena Historical Society.
“For me it is all about who are the candidates, what do they say on their applications, and once those are out there with all those clever responses it just takes off by itself,” says parade chairman for the election, Debby Disch.
The stories of past candidates, like the 2015 Mayor, stick with those in the town.
Disch says, “We had a late entry, Polly Loveless, who had a leg amputated and she came out with this huge animal disability act. Staged a huge campaign in like half the time and became mayor.”
On Saturday, they inaugurated the four legged mayor—Rosie Disch.
This year’s elections pulled in over $14,000 for the historical society.
Organizers say their biggest goal is to have fun and see the creativity behind each animal candidate.
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