Goat, dog serve as mayors

FAIR HAVEN, Vt. (AP) — A goat and a dog who were each elected mayor have helped raise money to renovate a Vermont community playground.

The oddball idea of pet mayor elections to raise money to rehabilitate the playground and to help get local kids civically involved came from a local town manager.

In 2018, Fair Haven residents elected Lincoln the goat as its honorary mayor. Lincoln helped raise about $10,000 while the current mayor, Murfee, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, has raised $20,000, Town Manager Joe Gunter told the Rutland Herald. The town chipped in another $20,000.

Murfee’s owner, Linda Barker, said that when she was talked into having Murfee get involved in politics, she thought it would be easy to raise money through T-shirts. Then the pandemic struck.

So she shifted to masks. She’s made nearly 1,000 of them, and will be making another round of them for Valentine’s Day. She raised more than $5,000 from the masks and a similar amount from basket raffles.

The town was also recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation sFund, she said.

Ironically, the honorary mayor is not welcome on the playground. Barker said there’s a “no dogs allowed” sign.

“Murfee is going to take that up with the town,” Barker said Sunday with a chuckle. “He’s going to contest that.”