You may be familiar with the Turkey Trot races that happen across the country every Thanksgiving morning – perhaps you're an avid participant in the tradition yourself.
After I learned the race dates back to 1896 when the first one was held by the Buffalo, New York YMCA, I had the thought, “Where did the name come from in the first place?”
After some archival deep-diving, I found a few instances of it. In the 1800s and 1900s, farmers in the U.S. did not have trucks large enough to transport the birds from farms to processing facilities, nor ice to ship the turkeys long distances on the railroad system. So, turkey farmers had to herd or drive their birds to the market.
This was when I came upon an excerpt from “Ruby’s Town,” a documentary from 2007 written and directed by Erik McCowan, that showed the small town of Cuero, Texas turning this need to transport turkeys into one of the first turkey-themed festivals in the U.S.
The documentary estimates 30,000 people traveled to Cuero in 1912 to see about 18,000 turkeys lead the world's first Turkey Trot.
The festival was such a big deal that Governor Oscar Colquitt attended and an invite was even sent to President Woodrow Wilson.
The festival is said to have also been named after a ragtime dance popularized during the time.
The dance, albeit a fairly trotty and hoppy dance where dancers hop from one foot to the other while facing their partner, was seen as quite risqué and was banned in dance halls across the country, barred from the U.S. Naval Academy and even denounced by the Vatican.
The dance fell out of fashion within five years of being made, when the foxtrot took over.
It was referenced though decades later in Little Eva’s 1963 hit song, “Let’s Turkey Trot.”
Back in Texas today, the town of Cuero continues to be known for its Turkey Festival.
From a farming practice, turned into a festival and a namesake ragtime dance, the term “Turkey Trot” has touched our country in interesting ways over the years.
In present days, Turkey Trot is used mostly for the footraces on Thanksgiving morning, such as the 10 that will happen in Idaho this year alone.
