Last year, after Congress saw its numbers shift in the midterm elections, President Obama joked that he’d be happy to “stop at least one shellacking” as he took part in what’s become an endearing presidential tradition: the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon, when the president spares two birds (one original, one backup) from the butcher’s knife.
This year, the two brave birds hail from a 35-member presidential flock hatched and raised at Willmar Poultry Company in Willmar, Minnesota, a family-owned farm that produces 45 million of the 47 million birds sold each year from that state. This year’s flock has been raised by students from Willmar High School who are also members of FFA (Future Farmers of America), and it looks like they’ve grown up in style, enjoying plenty of vitamin-enriched corn, soy and water as they hang out in an open pen which allows them plenty of light and leg room. They’ve also being exposed to plenty of flash photography and rock music — all in the interests of training them to be calm and “unruffled” when they go to a special selection ceremony on Nov. 18, where they’ll have to “strut their stuff” for the judges.
Last year, Obama compared the selection process to a popular reality TV show, saying “It’s kind of like a turkey version of ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ except the stakes for the contestants was much higher.” This year’s event carries on a tradition that dates back to 1947 with President Harry Truman, but no records exist of any pardon on his part. In fact, the first formal “pardon” didn’t come until 1989, when President George H.W. Bush was presented a turkey for the First Family’s Thanksgiving dinner, which he then granted a presidential pardon — establishing the tradition we know today.
This time around, the lucky two (as-yet unnamed) turkeys will both be male and weigh about 45 pounds when they are presented and pardoned on Nov. 23. While in Washington, the birds will stay at a swanky five-star hotel in D.C. (which won’t be named for the birds’ protection) before heading off to their forever-home at Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the historic home of President George Washington.
