From our April 19, 2001, edition.

Clarendon to host first ever Turkey Strut 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

After months of speculation and anticipation, the first annual Donley County Spring Turkey Strut Festival will be held this weekend, April 21-22.

The fun for all ages starts on Saturday with a craft show in the Lions Club from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the competition will be fierce at the turkey cookoff at the corner of Fourth and Kearney streets. The turkey cookoff starts at noon, and the first 200 people to arrive will get to be the judges of the best turkey dish. 

The Texas Parks and Wildlife will hold a demonstration on the courthouse lawn at 1:00 p.m. while bluegrass fiddlers will stroll down Kearney Street playing their strutting music.

Visitors and citizens can also view the wild turkeys and other wildlife during tours throughout the day of Taylor Lakes, the James P. Rodgers Bird Sanctuary, and Greenbelt Lake.

The main event, the crowning of Clarendon’s first Turkey King, will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Kearney Street.  Local officials have been campaigning for nine weeks to see who will be the king. 

After his highness has been crowned, a Turkey Mattress Race will begin at 7:30 p.m. According to chamber directory Judy Burlin, the line up for the race is the County Commissioners vs. the City Aldermen and the Fire Department vs. the Ambulance Authority. She said it’s also possible that some teams from Clarendon College may enter.

Race contestants will have to carry a double mattress with a turkey on it from Henson’s hardware store to the Post Office, a distance of one block.

KEFH-FM will host a street dance on Kearney Street beginning at 8 o’clock.

The Donley County Tourism Council will hold a drawing Saturday evening for the winner’s choice of a wildlife painting by James Ivey Edwards, a set of binoculars, or a stay at the Ace No. 8 West Texas Bed & Breakfast in Lelia Lake. Tickets for the drawing are $5 each or three for $10 and can be purchased from members of the tourism council or at the library. The infamous pink and green wooden turkeys will be auctioned off, and local artists may bring their wildlife pieces to be auctioned also.

Breakfast will be served at the VFW Hall on Sunday. Other activities include the nine-hole Golf Scramble at the Clarendon Country Club and the Clay Turkey Shoot at the Bar H Dude Ranch.  Both events begin at 1:00 p.m. 

The craft show will continue on Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., as will the wildlife viewing tours throughout the day. Times for the tours will be announced.

For more information, call Dee Dee Autry at 806/874-3889.