After a nearly two-month-long race that raised some $27,000, the Dorchester Day Parade Committee has announced that David Anderson, a 34-year-old Dorchester resident and operations manager for Greater Boston Management, is this year’s winner of the Mayor of Dorchester contest.

Anderson will lead the Dorchester Day Parade festivities on June 4 as part of his ceremonial role.
The ‘mayor,’ who was raised in Dorchester, said the campaign was a fun way to give back to the neighborhood. As he increased his involvement in the race, he became more enthusiastic about the opportunity in front of him.

“I almost felt like I didn’t want to engage in this,” Anderson said. “I just wanted to drop the check off and be like, ‘Okay, I’ll see you guys later.’ But after I thought and talked to a couple of people, that’s kind of the idea, is to bring attention to it and to get people excited about it, and have them engage and feel the energy and the fun of it, so that it draws more people in so it can get bigger and better. That’s a big part of it, and that’s what I’ll do.”

Anderson had raised around $8,700 through donation site GoFundMe when his brother, Christopher Anderson, stepped up and donated $12,000 to the campaign. With a total nearing $21,000, Anderson was the clear winner. Runner-up Carlos Vargas, of the Vargas & Vargas insurance firm, said he raised nearly $6,000 through his campaign.

All the money raised by the candidates will go support the parade.

Anderson and Vargas fed off one another throughout the campaigns, to the point of holding a mock debate at Boston Bowl on May 4. “We kind of knew each other, but in the little time that we’ve spent together, doing the debate and all this fun stuff, I consider David [Anderson] a friend,” Vargas said. “He’s a great community guy. I was so happy to raise a little bit of money.”

Kelly Walsh, president of the parade committee, noted that this has been a particularly “great year,” with the Dorchester Chili Cook-off bringing in $10,000 in March.“The parade’s in good shape for this year,” she said. “We certainly don’t have to worry about that. And we’re actually in a good place for next year, too. We get a nice little cushion.”

Like Anderson and Vargas, Walsh loves Dorchester Day for the opportunity it presents to showcase community groups and bring the neighborhood together. She said the committee is making efforts to make the parade and future events more family-friendly.

“I think my favorite part is knowing that all of the groups have finally stepped foot on Dorchester Avenue and the parade is making its way up Dot Ave, and everybody’s out there having fun and we can all relax a little more,” Walsh said. “And who doesn’t love the Clydesdales?”

Anderson said he was inspired to run after he brought his three daughters to Dorchester Day’s kickoff event, a pancake breakfast featuring characters like Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Spider-Man. For him, the day is more about the neighborhood’s families and kid-friendly fun than anything else.

“I get to bring my kids in the parade. They’re going to think that’s the coolest thing in the world,” Anderson said. “Like, ‘This is your parade!’ because they’re so little. It’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait.”

Because he enjoyed the energy of a competitive campaign, Vargas said he would like to run again. He also appreciated the opportunity to get to know his neighbors better.

“Dorchester is made up of some wonderful business people, and it was my honor and my pleasure to have been kind of thrown into this,” Vargas said. “At the end, I really had a great time doing it, meeting an awful lot of people I did not know. I thought I knew a lot of people in Dorchester, and I did not.”