RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — Pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey is traditionally the purview of the President, but Rapid City’s mayor has made it a city tradition as well.
This event all started to create a fun family family-filled tradition to kick off the holidays.
“You know, Thanksgiving has become more stressful than it used to be for a million reasons right. And so we just wanted to do something fun and silly and it didn’t have a purpose or a goal and four years later it’s become a thing where we’re donating turkeys to churches,” Homeslice Group President Brad Jurgensen said.
The gobbler selected this year is Lucky the Turkey.
“Well this is a fun day, obviously we get to celebrate Thanksgiving, that’s what this is all about. But we truly are pardoning a turkey today. This turkey was scheduled to be given to a church to be feasted upon, but instead this turkey will be pardoned and goes back to the farm,” Rapid City Mayor Jason Salamun said.
This event aims to bring smiles to the community, something they hope others can carry forward.
“The holidays are so stressful for people who maybe don’t have all the family together or can’t afford all the things. Just take a minute if you have all the things you are thankful for, to take maybe and have a face-to-face interaction with someone else in the community that you can help and that’s what makes this community great,” Jurgensen said.
“Despite the cold outside, the community itself is warm and it is the best of our community. I know there’s a lot of bad news in the world, there’s a lot of challenges no doubt, but it’s ok to be happy and it’s ok to come and celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s ok to celebrate the holidays,” Salamun said.
The mayor’s pardon for Lucky the Turkey kicks off the holiday events in Rapid City, with the Festival of Lights taking place on November 30th.
