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28 Fun Thanksgiving Facts To Be Thankful For
As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s time to prepare for a feast filled with turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie, all while enjoying the festive spirit of the season, including the iconic Thanksgiving Day parade featuring beloved characters like Snoopy.
The origins of Thanksgiving are often portrayed simplistically, focusing on the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and Native Americans of the Wampanoag tribe. However, the history surrounding this holiday is complex, and while many enjoy the narrative of a harmonious gathering, the realities of that time were marred by conflict and suffering.
Today, we celebrate with family gatherings, football games, and, of course, shopping sprees. Here are some fascinating Thanksgiving facts that you might not know!
Fun Thanksgiving Facts
- Each year, Americans consume over 45 million turkeys.
- This amounts to approximately 720 million pounds of turkey.
- Contrary to popular belief, the tryptophan in turkey is not the main reason for post-meal drowsiness; it’s actually the result of overeating.
- The largest pumpkin pie ever made weighed 3,699 pounds and was created in Ohio in 2010.
- Minnesota, Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, Virginia, and Missouri produce 69% of all turkeys in the U.S.
- The state of Minnesota is projected to raise 39 million turkeys in the 2022 season.
- The average price for a frozen whole turkey is approximately $1.50 per pound.
- Ben Franklin advocated for the turkey to be the national bird.
- The Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day since 1934, a tradition that continues today.
- The Dallas Cowboys joined the Thanksgiving Day football tradition in 1966.
- Thanksgiving leftovers inspired the creation of the first-ever TV dinner after Swanson had an excess of 260 tons of turkey.
- The term “Franksgiving” refers to 1939 when Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving a week earlier, a change that reverted back in 1941.
- The Turkey Talk Line from Butterball handles over 100,000 turkey-related inquiries every year.
- There are four towns in the U.S. named Turkey.
- The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade began in 1924 and was initially titled the Christmas Day parade.
- This parade is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest inflatable parade.
- Sarah Josepha Hale campaigned for 17 years to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
- Her efforts culminated in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.
- Bars typically see a surge in sales on the night before Thanksgiving.
- The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest for plumbers, leading Roto-Rooter to coin the term “Brown Friday.”
- The first Thanksgiving in 1621 spanned three days.
- Turkey has not always been the centerpiece of Thanksgiving meals.
- Historians suggest that the original feast may have included ducks, geese, swans, and shellfish.
- Interestingly, the 1621 Plymouth gathering is not the only event credited with being the first Thanksgiving; feasts in 1565, 1619, 1623, and 1637 also claim that honor.
- In 2011, a record-breaking 661 individuals participated in the YMCA Turkey Trot in Dallas dressed as turkeys.
- Every year, the President of the United States pardons a turkey, a tradition formalized in 1989.
Sources
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Census Bureau
House Beautiful
Business Insider
Country Living
Guinness World Records
Insider
Smithsonian Magazine
Author
Amanda Postma is a writer for the Zippia Career Advice blog with a focus on creating entertaining content to help you through your job search. She received her BA from the University Of Missouri-Columbia.
