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Happy Thanksgiving! If you’re heading out to celebrate with family and friends or even hosting the event yourself, here are 10 fun facts to entertain and wow your guests!
1) The First Thanksgiving was a harvest feast shared by Wampanoag people and the Plymouth colonists in the fall of 1621. The event took place in what is now Plymouth, Mass. and while the term “First Thanksgiving” wasn’t used at the time, it’s how the event is remembered today. There were 142 people at the first Thanksgiving and the meal lasted three entire days!
2) Colchester, Conn. postponed Thanksgiving in 1705 due to the absence of pumpkin pies. A colder than average winter caused a molasses shortage, which was used as a sweetner for pies.
3) California is the U.S state that consumes the most turkey every Thanksgiving. Californians eat about 21 pounds of turkey annually. This is 2 to 3 pounds more than the national average of 17.6 pounds per person.
4) The National Turkey Federation estimates 88% of Americans consume turkey each year. Per the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), this translates to more than 46 million turkeys eaten on Thanksgiving.
5) The average length of a ‘Turkey Trot’ is about 5 miles.
6) New York is the first U.S state to adopt Thanksgiving as an annual holiday.
Welcome to Turkey, Texas, one of four places in the U.S. named after turkey! COURTESY PHOTO
7) There are four towns in the U.S. named Turkey: Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, La.; Turkey, N.C.; and Turkey Creek, Ariz.
8) The following countries recognize Thanksgiving as a national holiday: Canada, Grenada, Liberia, Saint Lucia, and the United States
9) George Herbert Walker Bush was the first American president to institute the annual “turkey pardon” at the White House ceremony in 1989. According to the White House Historical Association, it is often stated that Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 clemency to a turkey recorded in an 1865 dispatch by White House reporter Noah Brooks was the origin for the pardoning ceremony.
10) Butterball answers more than 100,000 calls on their “Turkey Talk-Line” every year. To get in touch with a turkey expert, call 1-800-BUTTERBALL or text 844-877-3456. The line is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2024.
