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2025 Mayor for a Day Essay Contest Winners

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Felix Johnson

Woodbury, 4th Grade

My name is Felix Johnson, and I am a fourth grader at Red Rock Elementary School in Woodbury. My Cub Scout group heard about this contest and I wanted to enter.

If I were mayor for a day, I would make a program to allow all residents to have backyard chickens or ducks. Residents would have to meet the following requirements:

  1. They would need a fully fenced-in area so coyotes and other predators can’t get in.
  2. They would need to complete a class about poultry management, so they know how to care for them.
  3. They would need to have a hen or duck house.

There would also be rules:

  1. No roosters (too noisy).
  2. A limit of 6 chickens or ducks. (Chickens lay about 300 eggs per year, ducks about 200 eggs per year. Six birds could mean 1,200 to 1,800 eggs per year. That’s a lot of eggs!)
  3. Annual renewal in the program.

Having chickens or ducks allows for:

  1. Ridding yards of invasive plant species like creeping Charlie.
  2. Free fertilizer.
  3. Cheap food (eggs cost a lot!).

I think backyard chickens and ducks are a good idea. This is what I would do
as mayor for a day.

Brynlee Winrich

St. James, 6th Grade

Hello, I am Brynlee. I think some things that could help this town are spending more time supporting wildlife, cleaning the town, and adding more mental health murals and art in St. James.

These ideas could help attract new people and make life better for people who already live here. For example, adding more plants near lakes or ponds could make the town feel brighter. Cleaning the town will make it feel fresher and newer. Adding more murals about mental health and important people, like the one by Family Dollar, could help people feel united and seen.

Some ways we could accomplish this is to have volunteers plant flowers and trees and help clean up ditches. Volunteers could be from 4-H clubs, school teams, or anyone willing to help make St. James better. And for murals and paintings, maybe a young artist is willing to paint something heartful and creative if you let them.

Thank you very much for listening to my ideas about improving nature,
cleaning the town, and painting more murals. I hope these ideas will help.

Elan Thaler

Minnetrista, 5th Grade

Hi, my name is Elan, and I live in Minnetrista. If I were mayor for a day I would work on city development. Minnetrista used to have few people and was mainly farmland. Recently, more people are moving here, but there aren’t many restaurants, companies, or stores.

I think it is important to have shops and stores because they improve quality of life for everybody. With more businesses, we would attract even more people and make Minnetrista a better place to live. One idea is to create a Minnetrista “Main Street” with many stores. Steps for this project would be:

  1. Hold meetings to hear ideas. I’d advertise them and have meetings on
    different days of the week.
  2. Find a strip of land in Minnetrista. I’d give some locations, then take a vote
    to choose the best place.
  3. Build a Main Street and sell stores spaces. A committee would help
    organize this and maintain it.
  4. Have people enjoy Minnetrista Main Street and collect feedback to make it
    even better.
  5. Have monthly events, like watercolor painting, food tours, and book talks.

If Minnetrista built a Main Street, there would be more shops, which would lead to more visitors and more people moving here, which would help Minnetrista grow into a great city!

Since Minnetrista is alongside a lake, that’s something to take advantage of. The Minnetrista Main Street should be lakeside to attract more people and help compete with neighboring cities like Waconia, Excelsior, and Wayzata.

In conclusion, this idea would get more people to live in Minnetrista, make money for the city, and create a convenient spot that has everything you need.

Everlie Ernest

Silver Bay, 6th Grade

If I were mayor for a day, I would organize a garbage pick-up day once a month to try to keep our town clean.

Then I would start a really good fundraiser for the people in need. I would have my grandma bake cookies, and that’s how I would get the fundraiser started. I would send out a paper and have the mailman give it to people, so they come. The cookies would be $4 because they’re homemade (with love).

When the fundraiser got enough money, I would go to Zups or Costco and get lots of food for the people in need. Then I would also get hygiene products like deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hairbrushes. I would go to Bath & Body Works to get body wash and perfume for the girls, then go to Target and get the brand called Finery, which is cologne, for the boys. Then I would go to Walmart and get the men Body by Dove.

I would add a new park because I think there should be more shade and a water station. I would also go clean the pollution out of the lake in the summer.

A mayor needs to be ready for negative things being said and disagreements, stay calm, and stay strong during emotional situations, like if they ever ban cookies. They need to make sure to take care of the community by focusing on economic development and getting teachers to
strengthen public education.

That’s how I would be mayor for a day.

 

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