Every year since 1904, on the first Sunday of June, thousands of people line Dorchester Avenue to watch a 3-mile parade led by the honorary mayor of Dorchester.

This year, the mayor might look a little fluffier than usual.

His name is Walter, he lives across from the Ashmont Firehouse, and he loves treats almost as much as he loves Dorchester.

Walter is a golden retriever.

“We live and breathe everything Dorchester,” said Jenna Marie Taylor, Walter’s fur mom and campaign manager. “I can't imagine living anywhere else, and that's partially because of Walter. He brings Dorchester a sense of community.”

The Dorchester Day parade is a spectacle with 75 to 90 participants, floats and performances, along with appearances from Boston’s mayor city councillors, and other elected leaders and community groups.

The parade’s annual cost has run between $50,000 and $60,000 in recent years, said Brianne Gore, Dorchester Day’s planning committee president. Organizers rely on a healthy neighborhood fundraising competition – the honorary Dorchester mayor's race – to help fund it. Mayoral candidates receive one vote for every dollar raised.

Taylor launched Walter’s campaign on her Instagram last Sunday evening. The response was overwhelming.

“I really didn’t expect it to take off like it did,” Taylor said. “The next morning, someone honked at us on our run and yelled, ‘Mayor!’”

With a thick shaggy mane and panting grin, Walter makes friends everywhere he goes, Taylor said. Every morning on Taylor’s 3-mile jog through Dorchester, Walter trots off the leash right beside her and draws smiles.

Firefighters at the firehouse and clerks at the Greater Ashmont Main Street call out Walter’s name as they pass. Butchers secretly cut slabs of meat for him to gnaw on at American Provisions, and the crossing guard by the church school on Gallivan Boulevard always has treats ready.

Last October, while she was watching the “Pooch Primaries,” a canine-only mayor's election in the Seaport, Taylor got an idea.

“Does Dorchester’s mayor have to be a human?” she remembers asking herself.

Walter has some competition, though.

So far, three other contestants have entered the race: Shanequa Christmas, a family coordinator at St. John Paul II Catholic Academy; Gene Gorman, an English literature teacher; and Bridget McDonagh, a fitness trainer at Dot Box.

After 20 years in Dorchester, Gorman said they have “skin in the game.”

Gorman has a platform. His campaign will emphasize mental health awareness, improving MassTransit, and education in Dorchester.

Above: Gene Gorman in Fields Corner.

Asked what winning would mean to them, Gorman paused.

“It would be one of the five or 10 best things to happen to me,” they said, listing marriage, the birth of their two kids and their college education. “I’m being serious.”

McDonagh remembers the parade as a staple of her summers growing up in Savin Hill. Now, it’s something for her two young kids to look forward to.

“The neighborhood has changed a lot and the businesses here have changed a lot,” McDonagh said. “This is the one thing left in this neighborhood to bring us together.”

Shaniqua Christmas never imagined herself belonging in the Dorchester Day parade, let alone leading it.

“Growing up, I heard so many stories about the parade and how it wasn’t for us,” Christmas said, who is Black and grew up in Roxbury. But when her daughter pleaded for her to go last year, she caved.

“I was all wrong,” she said. “All of Dorchester had come together as one. I loved it.”

Above, Shaniqua Christmas (seated) with a group of her students.

A few of her students began floating the idea of her running for mayor. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

“There are kids in my neighborhood that haven’t even stepped foot on Dot Ave,” Christmas said. “I’m doing it for my community. Dorchester means everything to me.”

The candidates will all hold fund-raising events. Gorman is planning his kick-off event and a few local business partnerships. Christmas wants to host a “paint and sip” event or an event with her school club. McDonagh is organizing a fitness class raffle, and she hopes to connect with the Boys & Girls Club for an event.

Walter’s campaign manager also has been plotting. The golden retriever’s 10th birthday is around the corner. Why not a kissing booth at the Ashmont Farmers Market? Or a haircut raffle from a pet groomer?

For now, Team Walter is raising money for the parade through a GoFund Me page.

On Dorchester Day, Taylor used to sit with Walter and watch the parade pass by from the balcony of her apartment overlooking Dot Ave. This summer, Taylor hopes they’ll lead the pack.

“Walter is the perfect face for Dorchester,” she said. “He just loves the spotlight.”

This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

This year, the Dorchester mayor’s race could go to Walter the dog. Photo courtesy Jenna Taylor