Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The herding of turkeys down Main Street each November was a long-established practice in Cuero. As the spectacle attracted more visitors, the local Chamber of Commerce decided to organize the drive into an annual celebration promoting area farms. Mayor Henry Mugge led a parade of 18,000 turkeys for the inaugural Turkey Trot in 1912. In 1973, the event evolved into Turkeyfest, a three-day festival featuring a parade and the crowning of Sultan Yekrut and Sultana Oreuc. Sheree Ernster describes another Turkeyfest tradition in this 1976 documentary segment: the Great Gobbler Gallop, a turkey race between Ruby Begonia of Cuero and Paycheck of Worthington, Minnesota.
Watch more archival footage documenting the Cuero Turkeyfest: tinyurl.com/5f4tddwt
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by the Cuero Chamber of Commerce.
#cuero #turkeytrot #turkeyfest
The herding of turkeys down Main Street each November was a long-established practice in Cuero. As the spectacle attracted more visitors, the local Chamber of Commerce decided to organize the drive into an annual celebration promoting area farms. Mayor Henry Mugge led a parade of 18,000 turkeys for the inaugural Turkey Trot in 1912. In 1973, the event evolved into Turkeyfest, a three-day festival featuring a parade and the crowning of Sultan Yekrut and Sultana Oreuc. Sheree Ernster describes another Turkeyfest tradition in this 1976 documentary segment: the Great Gobbler Gallop, a turkey race between Ruby Begonia of Cuero and Paycheck of Worthington, Minnesota.
Watch more archival footage documenting the Cuero Turkeyfest: tinyurl.com/5f4tddwt
Explore the web exhibit, Festival Season, at: bit.ly/4pUGtjE
Contributed to the Texas Moving Image Archive Program by the Cuero Chamber of Commerce.
#cuero #turkeytrot #turkeyfest
