LET THERE BE TURKEY

Okay, time to fess up and tell the truth. As you probably know, McMinnville has a thing about turkey, dating back to the days when the area was known for its turkey farms, and there were turkey bars on Third Street where the wine bars are now. Step inside, plunk down your fifty cents, eat a turkey, wipe your mouth on the community rag hanging on the wall, leave and get on with your day.

Well, things have changed and now instead of turkey bars, we have Turkey Rama once a year, which gives the whole community the opportunity to celebrate downtown on Third Street, eat barbequed turkey at Wortman Park, exchange turkey mating calls late into the night and engage in other friend-or-fowl behaviors.

Now here’s the truth-telling part: Last year, the UFO parade – also held on Third Street, but in the spring -- was dominated by an enormous float of a rather fearsome-looking turkey, some seven-feet high, that was pulled by a tractor. The float was created by downtown manager Kris Gullo, who has a background in constructing very large farm animals out of Plaster of Paris. (She started with chickens and bunnies, and now this.) Well, few people know that I was sitting inside that float last year, charged with the task of making the giant turkey’s head bob up and down on a stick as we marched among scores of aliens and Star Wars characters. The only problem was that the turkey’s head broke off of the stick just as the parade started, and once inside the float, I wasn’t about to come out and fix it.

And that, my friends, is why a lady who happened to be riding on the outside of the float, dressed like an alien, could be seen holding and waving the head of a turkey that had come loose from its gigantic body that day at the UFO parade down Third Street. There are often very logical reasons for illogical things.

All of this confession comes by way of saying that yes, Virginia, there will be another Turkey Rama this summer, but this year it will feature its own parade. And this time we’re going to get it right. The Turkey Rama Parade will take place on Third Street on Friday, July 8th. Food, music and sidewalk sales will be featured on Friday, capped off with a street dance to returning Turkey Rama favorite, the Ty Curtis Band. And this year, on Saturday, July 9th, the festival will include the 12th Annual Classic Car Show, whereby a whole slew of custom cars, trucks, hot rods, street rods, antique cars and other cool vehicles will hold their own parade (albeit a stationary one – they’ll be parked up and down Third Street). That night there will be a street dance from 8 to 10 p.m. featuring the Boomer Band.

In short, it is shaping up as one of the finest Turkey Ramas ever, and anywhere. Save the Date! We can’t guarantee a gigantic turkey whose head is being held by an alien, but who knows what may happen when McMinnville’s turkeys meet up with its hot-rod owners on a warm, summer day. We’re looking forward to it, and this time I hope to see the parade from the outside of the float, not the inside.