Vintage Views: The Concord Mayoral Race Fiasco of 1939

It was in front of the Concord City Hall where onetime mayoral candidate Ping Ferry and his helpers picketed the Concord aldermen back in 1939.

It was in front of the Concord City Hall where onetime mayoral candidate Ping Ferry and his helpers picketed the Concord aldermen back in 1939. James W. Spain / Courtesy photo

Published: 06-07-2025 1:00 PM

There are times in life when a five-dollar bill can buy you so much. A cup of coffee perhaps, a small sandwich at the local deli or even a career as a local politician.

Here we are in the year 2025, a time when you can easily submit an application to the city of Concord along with a five-dollar bill and perhaps become the mayor. Quite a fascinating dream to some and certainly a reality to many others over the past years.

Concord conducts elections for municipal office every two years. The next election will be held on Nov. 4, 2025. You can submit your application with your five-dollar bill to City Hall and find your name on the upcoming ballot. You could be mayor, a city councilor or even a ward Official.

You must bring your five-dollar bill down to City Hall between Sept. 5 and Sept. 15 this year to embark on a potentially long career as a politician.

The process has always been quite accessible and beneficial for the average citizen.

Some people are motivated to seek public office to address their local concerns to a higher degree, while other people are just natural-born leaders and speak well when representing the people living in the community.

Other people seek public office for their own personal reasons, sometimes this results in a wonderful venture while at other times the outcome might not be too inspiring for both the elected official and the people living in the community.

There are people that launch quite impressive campaigns to seek office, printing signs and advertising in newspapers, on radio and even on television. They spend a lot more than their five-dollar bill to win their political race.

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Others simply pay the five-dollar bill to the Concord city clerk and sit back to enjoy the late-night election results on the local news station or in the morning edition of the Concord Monitor.

Still, there are some people that are quite inspired to run for public office but change their minds after paying that five-dollar bill at City Hall.

Such was the case back in the year 1939.

There was a local newspaper man named “Ping” Ferry. Ping awoke one morning with the deadline for applying for political office approaching quickly. As he wrote his daily columns, he started to think about another career, one that would allow him to perhaps retire from the newspaper business and enter the world of politics.

With thoughts of politics in his mind, he walked down to the Concord City Hall and visited the city clerk.

“Give me the application for mayor,” he said.

Ping was excited and contemplating the possibility of winning the mayoral race of 1939.

The position brought lots of responsibility with it and would consume much time, but it was something Ping Ferry decided he definitely wanted to do.

He reached deep into his pocket and extracted his five-dollar bill, handing in the bill and the signed application. He was now a candidate for office.

After the process was completed, Ping did some thinking. He changed his mind – he didn’t want to be the mayor anymore.

He wasn’t interested in campaigning, and he certainly did not want to be a politician. His love was being a newspaper man. Ping Ferry took another walk down to the Concord City Hall, entered the grand front doors and approached the city clerk: “I’ve changed my mind; I don’t want to run for mayor.”

He then requested the city clerk to return his five-dollar bill. The clerk wasn’t really sure how to proceed, since this had never happened before.

The clerk contacted the aldermen and asked if the application fee for the upcoming election could be returned to Mr. Ferry. It was the general consensus of the aldermen to say no, the money could not be returned.

Once Ping Ferry was notified he would not be refunded he was not pleased at all. He never wanted to campaign for the position of mayor, but he was not opposed to picketing the city hall to get his five-dollar bill back.

Ping hired an attorney to represent him in his quest to have his application fee refunded.

He waited until the next meeting when all the aldermen and the mayor would be attending and launched his plan. Ping Ferry hired some youths to wear “sandwich boards” old signs that were visible on their front and backs and advertised for all to see “Aldermen Are Unfair to Ferry.”

The aldermen were certainly incensed with the picketing in front of City Hall and decided to debate once again the request to return the application fee to Mr. Ferry. A motion was made, a vote was cast and the Concord aldermen tabled the decision until the next meeting.

I don’t know if Ping Ferry ever received a refund from the Concord Aldermen but for a five-dollar bill, there couldn’t be any entertainment that was more amusing.