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The Turkey Trot marks its 80th year this weekend with two full days of bands, contests and a Saturday morning parade in downtown Yellville. The Mid-Marion County Rotary Club presents the festival Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10, under the theme “Rooted in Tradition.”
Both days open early with breakfast at the American Legion Hut, Post 61, from 6 to 10 a.m. Friday and 6 to 9 a.m. Saturday.
The opening ceremony is at noon Friday with a presentation of colors, the national anthem and performances by the Yellville-Summit and Flippin bands. Table Worship Band follows from 1 to 3 p.m., and the Yellville-Summit FBLA chapter hosts a lip sync contest from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
GTS Physical Therapy sponsors Friday’s cornhole tournament, with registration at 5:30 p.m. and play starting at 6:30 p.m. The Jerry Hopper Band plays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. before Ozark Thunder Band takes over for the street dance from 8 to 11 p.m.
Saturday’s parade steps off at 10 a.m. At 11 a.m., the Rotary Club will recognize its scholarship recipients and the Turkey Trot Pageant winners.
Whistlin’ Dixie Band plays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., followed by a street performance by Turning Pointe School of Dance from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. and Resurrection from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Door prize winners will be drawn at the vendor booths from 4:45 to 5:15 p.m.
The Pam Setser Band closes out the afternoon from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and Buckshot Band plays the Saturday street dance from 8 to 11 p.m.
The festival dates to 1946, when Yellville’s American Legion post and local business owners put on a National Turkey Calling Contest and Turkey Trot the week before Thanksgiving. The point was to draw attention to the state’s wild turkey population, which had fallen to about 7,000 birds by the mid-1940s, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
For decades the festival was best known for the live turkeys dropped from the courthouse roof and, starting in 1948, from an airplane. The Yellville Chamber of Commerce gave up organizing the event in 2018, and the Rotary Club took it over on the condition that no turkeys be dropped.
The Turkey Trot is now held on the second weekend of October each year.
