Dateline: April 21, 2005

Turkey Strut takes flight this Saturday

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

“Who will be the next Turkey King?” is the question on the minds of local residents as Clarendon prepares to host the annual Donley County Turkey Strut this Saturday.

Billy Chadwick has closed the gap and now leads the race to be the 2005 Donley County Turkey King. The official tally at press time had Chadwick ahead of Janie Hill by $123.02 to $122.59.

The field of other leading candidates has narrowed to Gay Tibbets in third place with $44.95 and Larinda Brown in fourth place with $15.45.

Polls at Lowe’s Family Center, JD Steakout, and The Clarendon Outpost will close at 3 p.m. on Saturday, and the new Turkey King will be crowned at 5:30 p.m.

Activities will begin at 3:00 p.m. when the contestants meet for the costume contest. The audience will need to gather on the side of 287 as they “strut the runway” between Kearney and Sully from the Donley County State Bank to KEFH. 

At 3:30 p.m. the pet contest will begin. All pets must be dressed in their best turkey strut outfit for judging. From 4-5 p.m., activities will be in the parking lot downtown, including a turkey egg obstacle golf course, Hula Hoop contest, and Turkey Toss. The big turkey mattress race begins at 5:00.

Destination Donley County Tourism is sponsoring the Turkey Strut, and proceeds go to promote Donley County.