Danbury Mayor Runs Down West Street in Chicken Costume Alongside Unicorn
There's a headline you don't see in Danbury every day, or in any other cities for that matter. But as we all know, Danbury isn't like most other cities, and Mark Boughton isn't like most mayors.
While most of us were digging out of a pile of Turkey Day leftovers as the result of smaller-than-normal gatherings with too much food, Mayor Mark spent his Black Friday dressed as a different type of poultry. A chicken.
Having become known for accepting silly challenges for wonderful causes, Mayor Mark made a friendly challenge with his close co-worker, Taylor O'Brien, the Hat City's Public Relations Coordinator, earlier this month, all in the name of raising funds for the Feeding Our Neighbors Community Challenge, which supports the Danbury Food Collaborative, a group of nonprofit organizations dedicated to providing food for local residents in need.
For this particular challenge, the stakes were simple -- If Taylor was able to raise more funds than Mayor Boughton, then he would run from City Hall, down West Street, to the Danbury Public Library, all the while dressed in a chicken costume. Conversely, if Mayor Mark earned the most funds for the local food initiative, then Taylor would have to make the same run, only she would be dressed in an inflatable unicorn costume.
Over the past few weeks, the competition was stiff, with both parties pacing very well toward their goals the entire time before ultimately far exceeding the benchmarks that has been set. As of this writing, Mayor Boughton raised a total of $5,576 over his original goal of $1,000, while Taylor O'Brien's donation page has reached the $6,665 mark over her goal of $5,000.
With the competition ending up so close, and since it was for an awesome cause anyway, the two decided that they would both suit up in their aforementioned costumes and make the run for City Hall to the library together.
Here's a video of the highly entertaining run:
This certainly isn't the first time Mayor Mark has participated in a challenge like this in order to help feed the people of his city. Earlier this year, the Hat City's fearless leader accepted a series of lip-syncing karaoke requests while soliciting a certain amount of donations.
Back in July, Mayor Mark and a few other local dignitaries put on an epic performance of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," during which Boughton tapped directly into his inner-Freddie Mercury following a $40,000 donation to the Daily Bread Food Pantry courtesy of Danbury Savings Bank.