Texas-side officials hope folks take part in City Hall Selfie Day

Texarkana, Texas, City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd., is shown in December 2015.
Texarkana, Texas, City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd., is shown in December 2015.

International City Hall Selfie Day is Monday, and Texas-side city officials hope it will turn a little social media into a lot of local citizen engagement.

The city will give a prize to anyone who comes to City Hall on Monday, takes a selfie and posts it to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter with the hashtag CityHallSelfie.

Created by Engaging Local Government Leaders, a municipal government support organization, the event is meant to provide a first step toward increased civic participation.

"We want to encourage citizen engagement. We want people to know where City Hall is, where to come if they have a question or want to attend a meeting, participate in the decision-making process, especially younger people who may not have been there before," said Lisa Thompson, Texas-side public information officer. "We know it's kind of silly, but people are taking selfies anyway."

According to its website, ELGL created National City Hall Selfie Day in response to a tongue-in-cheek July 24 tweet that asked, "When is national cityhallselfie day?"

"Our goal is to break the record for city hall selfies taken in one day. What's the record? We're not quite sure but we've pegged it at around nine," the website, ELGL.org, states. "Everyone who participates will receive an ELGL coozie."

ELGL also promises a chance to win various other premiums, including selfie sticks, mugs and T-shirts.

Texarkana, Texas, City Hall is at 220 Texas Blvd. and is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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