When Auxvasse Mayor Tom Henage was 5 years old, snowball fights were at the top of his mind.
Mayor LeRoy Benton, of Fulton, was preoccupied with ice cream. At age 5, Taylor Duncan, of Waynesville, also spends a lot of time thinking about ice cream - and planning her rise through politics.
With the support of her family, Taylor is planning on eating ice cream with every single mayor in the state. Henage and Benton, whom she met Wednesday at Saults Drug Store, were her 22nd and 23rd mayors.
"I'm not going to get tired of ice cream until my 99th or 100th mayor, or maybe the millionth," Taylor said.
Taylor's mother, Therese Duncan, is along for the ride - and to drive, set up the meetings with mayors and wrangle Taylor's two younger siblings. She and husband Michael Duncan move frequently due to Michael's job as a military policeman in the army.
"It is what you make of it, and we try to see cool things wherever we go," Therese said.
She homeschools Taylor. This year, Taylor learned about local government in a unit on community, then heard about the invention of the ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.
That's when she hatched her big plan.
"This is all her," Therese said. "I don't even allow sweets, usually. She's a very inquisitive, adventurous, fun little girl."
Taylor met her first mayor, Luge Hardman, of Waynesville, in late August. Since then, she's stopped for scoops in Wentzville, Crawford, Osceola, O'Fallon and other cities.
On Wednesday, she arrived in Fulton and made a quick stop at Memorial Park to see the cannon and climb on the monkey bars before heading to Saults. She chatted animatedly with Benton and Henage over a sundae made to her exacting requirements: Vanilla on top, strawberry on the bottom. Taylor claims to like all ice cream flavors equally.
Henage presented Taylor with a certficate naming her the honorary mayor of Auxvasse for the day, much to Taylor's delight.
"You know, one thing about being mayor, you get to have ice cream any time you like," he said.
Taylor, however, was interested in more than just ice cream.
"So, what are you doing for nature in your towns?" she asked.
Benton told her about the Fulton Stream Team and the city's struggles to reduce runoff and clean up Stinson Creek. Taylor asked about other challenges the cities face.
Both mayors spoke about the difficulty of finding enough money to accomplish goals for their towns.
Taylor listened closely. Her plans don't stop with just talking to mayors. She wants to be one.
"I'm going to be a councilperson, then a mayor, then governor and then I'm going to be the president," Taylor said. "I'm going to do a lot of paperwork and council stuff at home to get ready."
As for how she'll use that political power, she said as mayor of Waynesville, she would bring a Target to town. Once she's POTUS, though, she'll open an ice cream parlor at the White House.
"I can be president and work at my ice cream shop," she said.
She also hopes not to stop just at meeting Missouri's mayors.
"When I get all the states, I'll have a big party and invite all the mayors and reporters I've met," she said.
By the time she spooned up the last of her sundae, she seemed to have the mayors convinced of her ambitions. Benton remarked on how sharp Taylor was.
"She was energetic, wasn't she?" Henage said. "Stuff like this is really good for kids. I wish the schools could do more (activities like this). It might key something in a kid that might eventually bear fruit."
Therese chronicles Taylor's adventures on Facebook. You can follow along and find a link to donate toward gas costs at facebook.com/ShowMeIceCream.