WAYNESBURG - As the 136th annual Rain Day celebration approaches, Mayor Blair Zimmerman hopes for rain, or he'll lose his hat- literally. And this time, he's challenging another mayor.

This year, Zimmerman is betting Annise Parker, mayor of the city of Houston, Texas, that on July 29, it will rain in Waynesburg.

An official in the borough must report the rain, or the rainfall is not officially recorded. If the Rain Day tradition continues, and even a sprinkle falls in the borough, Parker will owe Zimmerman a hat.

Zimmerman said he asked Parker to participate in this year's hat bet because of the connection Waynesburg Borough has with the city of Houston.

Waynesburg Borough Police Officer Brian Tennant recently traveled to Houston for radiation treatment after he was diagnosed in March with grade-three glioma on his brain stem. Zimmerman said he was told that the city "opened their hearts" to Tennant and his family.

"The police officers there befriended him and the city wholly supported him, and I thought it would be appropriate to show our appreciation to the city," he said. "I asked the mayor to be our Rain Day hat bet challenger, and she gladly accepted."

Mayor Parker was sworn in to her first term as mayor of Houston on January 4, 2010. She is Houston's 61st mayor, one of only two women to hold the city's highest elected office. As the city's chief executive officer she is responsible for all aspects of the general management of the city and for seeing that all laws and ordinances are enforced.

Prior to her election as mayor, Parker served for six years as Houston City Controller and six years as an at-large member of Houston City Council. She is the only person in Houston history to hold the offices of council member, controller and mayor.

As controller, she helped win overwhelming voter approval (85%) of Proposition 3, which gives the Controller's Office the independent authority to conduct performance reviews of all city departments, agencies and programs. She was also successful in securing a seat for a controller's appointee on the Houston Municipal Pension System Board of Trustees, marking the first time the city's chief financial officer has had any involvement in the pension system.

In addition, Ms. Parker led a task force charged with developing new funding options and policies for solid waste collection, oversaw implementation of a new paperless payroll system that is saving the city's $1 million annually and served as a member of the stakeholders committee overseeing an independent investigation of the city's crime lab.

While a member of City Council, Ms. Parker chaired city council's Fiscal Affairs and Neighborhood Protection Committees and served on eight other committees, playing leadership roles in the creation of the city's $20 million Rainy Day Fund, a civic art program, a pooper-scooper law, tighter regulations for inner city development and the city's non-discrimination policy.

She also represented Houston on the Alliance for Interstate 69 Texas Board, the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Advisory Council of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the World Energy Cities Partnership.

Despite her duties as mayor, Parker remains active in the Houston community, currently serving on the boards of the Holocaust Museum and Girls Inc., and as an advisory board member of the Houston Zoo, the Montrose Counseling Center and Trees for Houston.

In 2001, she was selected as "Council Member of the Year" by the Houston Police Officers Union. In 2002, she received the "Distinguished Local Elected Official Award" from the Texas Recreation and Park Society. She previously received the "Good Brick Award" from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance for her restoration of historic properties in the Old Sixth Ward.

Parker is a second generation native Houstonian. She attended Rice University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. In the private sector, she spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry, including 18 years with Mosbacher Energy Company. She also co-owned a retail bookstore for 10 years.

Mayor Parker and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have three children.

Mayor Zimmerman said though he is appreciative of Parker and the city of Houston, he is quite confident that Waynesburg will win this year's bet.

"I checked the weather reports and they are calling for rain, so I feel pretty good about our chances," he said. "Hopefully it will be a quick rain, long enough for us to win the bet, and then everybody can enjoy the rest of the day."

This is Zimmerman's second consecutive year that he has bet a female. Last year, Zimmerman won the Rain Day bet, defeating Katie Stam, who was crowned Miss America in 2009. In previous years, celebrities such as Bob Hope, Mario Lemieux and Donald Trump bet their hat that it would not rain in Waynesburg, on Rain Day.

Zimmerman said if - and when - Waynesburg wins the bet, he will ask Mayor Parker to hand over a cowboy hat.

"Maybe two," he said with a laugh. "One I will give to the county museum, and one I will wear proudly around town."

Officially, it has rained on Rain Day in the borough 111 out of the past 135 years.