Thanksgiving is here and we are ready to dig in to the food! Here are some fun facts about Thanksgiving to share with your loved ones at the dinner table!
- The first thanksgiving celebration took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.
- There is no record that they ate a turkey at the first thanksgiving! There was dear and likely a lot of seafood.
- They also did not have any forks. Only spoons and knives had been invented at the time. Imagine!
- The first thanksgiving football game was a college match between Yale and Princeton in 1876, 13 years after President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national Holiday.
- The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was in 1924.
- Every year, one Turkey is pardoned by the President of the United States. This lucky Turkey is guaranteed to spend the rest of his life living freely and not ending up on someone’s dinner table.
- Thanksgiving is ranked as America’s second most popular holiday, behind Christmas.
- The average American will consume 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving day.
- Minnesota produces the most Turkeys each year. Last year alone, they produce 45 million birds.
- The United States produces nearly 6 billion pounds of turkey meat every year.
- Wild Turkeys can fly for short distances at speeds up to 55 miles per hour, and can run 20 miles per hour.
- Domestic Turkeys cannot fly.
- A turkey typically has 70% white meat and 30% dark meat.
- Wild turkeys prefer to sleep in trees.
- The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds.
Happy Thanksgiving from us to you!