All of us at Cook’s would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You for your business! We know that without you, we wouldn’t be here.
To get you in the holiday spirit and help you wow your friends and associates with Thanksgiving trivia – even if it will be via Zoom instead of at dinner, here are ten fun facts about the holiday:
1. The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted for three days! Just imagine that turkey coma.
2. The leader of the Pilgrims; Governor William Bradford, organized the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621. He invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians to the feast.
3. Thanksgiving holidays were commonly celebrated at the time the Pilgrims came to America in 1620. It was not rare in England and much of Europe to frequently set aside days to give thanks to God.
4. 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving. To feed all those hungry people, there are nearly 280 million turkeys sold annually, which is just about 7 billion pounds of turkey!
5. Cranberries are another Thanksgiving favorite and almost 20% of all cranberries consumed in the US annually are eaten on Thanksgiving Day.
6. Thanksgiving came into being a holiday under President Lincoln, although Sarah Josepha Hale, best known as the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, lobbied for 20 years to five different presidents, numerous governors, congressmen, and media sources to formalize the holiday. Lincoln decided on the last Thursday of November as a national Thanksgiving holiday.
7. Thanksgiving was moved up a week by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939, 1940 and 1941 to extend the Christmas shopping season – but several states didn’t go along with the move. Congress stepped in to unify the holiday and in October of 1941 set the date for the 4th Thursday of November where it is now.
8. Beginning in 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey along with two dressed turkeys to the President. The President then ‘pardons’ the live turkey to live out the balance of its life on a historical farm.
9. The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was started in the 1920’s.
10. Americans aren’t the only ones celebrating Thanksgiving, our neighbors north of us do also. Canada celebrates on the second Monday in October.
Wishing you a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving from your friends at Cook’s
