Bridget McDonagh will be the next Mayor of Dorchester.
The 33-year-old Savin Hill native, a mom of two who works as a personal trainer, raised $10,500 (and counting) to earn the honorary title. The funds all go to help pay for the Dorchester Day Parade, coming up on Sunday, June 1.
McDonagh, who is raising her 8 year-old daughter Lana and almost 2-year-old son Liam near Adams Village with her husband Richard (Zig) O’Reilly, says she ran for the honorary post— in part— because “I knew my kids would love it.”
She was also encouraged to enter the contest by the current mayor of Dorchester, Maeghan Driscoll, who is a friend and former colleague at the popular Savin Hill Avenue restaurant, McKenna’s.
“Maeghan is the person who brought it up to me. She told me that another girl had dropped out, and I was like, you know what, ‘Why not?’ I’m born and raised in Dorchester, I love Dorchester Day and the parade.”
For all of her passion for the neighborhood and its annual celebration, however, McDonagh says she thought she had “no chance” of winning.
Her main competition— Walter the Dog, a golden retriever whose mom Jenna Taylor mounted an energetic and very successful campaign with the photogenic canine— was tough competition in dog-crazy Dot.
But McDonagh tapped into her huge network of friends, family, and business associates to help drive up the donations.
In the end, according to Dot Day Committee volunteer and organizer Brianne Gore, Walter and Jenna’s effort netted $10,000 for the parade coffers. With another $3,000 raised by contestant Gene Gorman, the mayoral “race” has resulted in nearly $25,000 in much-needed money to fuel the parade— which needs the help to pay for bands, rentals, and other logistics that put the annual event on the street each year.
One of the keys to Bridget’s success has been her six siblings — all of whom are also Dot residents— who have young families like hers. The O’Reillys— another huge Dot clan— also kicked in with their large network.
And then the McDonagh campaign got a major boost when her friends at the Harp & Bard restaurant on Dot Ave donated their popular tavern for a “90s night” that really moved the needle on donations.
“That raised a lot of money,” said Bridget, who used to work at the Harp & Bard, owned by the Galvin family.
“Maura and Mike Galvin are awesome,” said McDonagh, who also gives a ton of credit to her victory to the clients and supporters of DotBox, the gym owned by her brother Packy McDonagh. Bridget has worked at the gym as a trainer and coach for several years and has marveled at the growth of the business under her brother’s ownership.
“I was very lucky,” says McDonagh, who says her brother has been “a big inspiration for me. He doesn’t even know how big.”
Today, Bridget and her husband are raising their family near Adams Village, but she’s very attached to her native Savin Hill, where she and her siblings grew up in a “chaotic and wild” but fun house surrounded by neighbors.
“There always something to do growing up in Savin Hill. It was awesome. You’d go out on the street and play until the sun goes down and your mom would call out your name and you ran home. Everybody knew each other.”
McDonagh says she and her family have always celebrated Dot Day and the parade. She’s thrilled that she can help a new generation of Dot kids— and newcomers who might not (yet) understand the importance of the neighborhood celebration— get into the spirit.
“Everyone loves Dot Day. I feel like it died off a bit around Covid, but I’m happy to help get it going again,” she said.
The Mayor of Dorchester contest has been a mainstay of Dot Day celebrations since 1999, when Mike Mackan— a longtime Dorchester activist and city of Boston code enforcement officer— won the first contest by raising roughly $13,000 for the parade effort.
The record for the most money raised by a single Dot mayor candidate was set in 2007 by Craig Galvin, who brought in roughly $30,000 to the parade coffers.
Galvin smashed the previous record set in 2003 when Jim Hogan raised $24,000 in a head-to-head against his brother-in-law Mario Colucci, who raised $12,000.
