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Greater Wesley Chapel Community Festival names its honorary mayor for her fundraising achievements.
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2003
WESLEY CHAPEL -- The Greater Wesley Chapel Community Festival ended with a rainout Sunday, but not before Salma Hashmi was named honorary mayor of the suburban community.
Hashmi is vice president of Point of Care Clinics, a medical practice founded by her husband, Hasan Hashmi. An attorney by profession, she served on the supreme court of her home province in her native Pakistan.
It wasn't her resume, but her fund-raising prowess that earned her the office of fictional chief executive of Wesley Chapel.
Hashmi led the pack of seven candidates who raised a total of $24,000 in the mayor's competition. Pastor Edward Russo of Victorious Life Church collected the second highest amount and became honorary deputy mayor.
They picked a rainy weekend for their inauguration at the hands of Republican state Rep. Ken Littlefield. After drawing large crowds on the sunny Saturday, the community festival never opened on State Road 54 for what was to be Sunday's grand finale.
A business expo that was supposed to run concurrently was canceled. It will be rescheduled with the tentative new name of "When Life Gives You Lemons make Lemonaid" expo.
"It was swampland," said Alison Morano, spokeswoman for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce. "You couldn't walk out there without being in 3 feet of water."
Still, the festival, like the mayor's race, a fundraiser for the chamber of commerce, raised $15,000 from the midway rides, games and concessions. Last year the chamber raised $27,000, but did so with the help of a dry Sunday.