It’s not often that you get to wish you were a turkey. After all those things get eaten around this time of the year thanks to uh… Thanksgiving. However, some turkeys are luckier than others. Apparently, some lucky Turkeys will go to the White House instead of the slaughterhouse this month for the annual tradition called National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation. There, turkeys will be pardoned instead of becoming a family meal for Thanksgiving next month.
Oh, and if that’s not enough, these Turkeys will also be treated as VITs or Very Important Turkeys. Before proceeding to the White House though to be uh, “pardoned” by the President, they will have to look good. So, they are given a spa treatment in the Willard Intercontinental hotel in Washington D.C. and plumped up with some gourmet meals. In addition to being saved, the turkeys will also go on public tours.
“It’s a fantastic tradition, it’s very exciting, we love it. They’ll probably get some feather fluffing – like a haircut. Maybe a massage. They will be able to order room service and our chef is planning to cook up some special dishes for them as well,” says Janet Scanlon, the Willard Intercontinental marketing director. Apparently, the hotel staff even went as far as covering the turkey’s rooms with wood chips to make them feel at home.
If you are wondering who started this thing, it was US President Truman back in 1947. However, the act of “pardoning” the turkey was initiated by President Bush back in 1989. Before Bush, the turkeys were not spared from becoming a dining table attraction come Thanksgiving— clearly one of the few things Bush did right.
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