A
traditional Arkansas turkey drop was aborted this year following
threats from an animal rights group and the Federal Aviation
Administration. Fans gathered in downtown Yellville at the 66th annual
Turkey Trot festival Saturday as an unknown aviator dubbed The Phantom
Pilot circled overhead in his small plane. But no turkeys were dropped
and the plane flew away. The traditional turkey dropping was torpedoed
this year when PETA ponied up a $5,000 bounty for the arrest and
conviction of anyone who dropped a turkey from the sky. The pilot also
had the feds on his tail in the form of a threat from an FAA official
threatening to pull his license if any one of their team present at the
festival witnessed turkeys dropping from the air. It’s unclear where the
custom of dropping turkeys around Thanksgiving came from, but it may
have been inspired by a 1978 episode of the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati.”
The episode, “Turkeys Away,” featured the famous tag line uttered by
the radio station owner following a disastrous turkey drop promotion was
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
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