The story
King Turkey Day in Worthington
King Turkey Day is a multi-day community festival held each September in Worthington, Minnesota, celebrating the region's turkey-raising industry with a race called the Great Gobbler Gallop, a grand parade, and a 10K run. The festival is built around a decades-long rivalry with Cuero, Texas, over the unofficial title of Turkey Capital of the World. Recent editions have run Thursday through Sunday with a beer garden, farmers market, and food vendors filling downtown Worthington.
Worthington, Minnesota, sits in the heart of a region that became one of the country's major turkey-producing areas over the twentieth century, and King Turkey Day emerged from that agricultural identity as a way for the community to celebrate an industry central to its economy.