In what has become an annual event for the City of Yonkers, one lucky turkey has been sparred the chopping block this Thanksgiving, mirroring the presidential tradition held at the White House every year.
On Tuesday, “Tim,” as the bird is called, was presented with the key to a farm sanctuary in Meridan, CT, where he can roam free and live out the natural course of his turkey life. The pardon came in a special ceremony held by Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and Stew Leonard Jr. outside the city’s famed family-owned grocery chain.
Stew Leonard‘s estimates it will serve 75,000 turkeys this Thanksgiving. As a display of gratitude and kindness, turkeys presented to the President of the United States this time of year have been “pardoned” — unofficially as far back as Lincoln but as a regular, yearly occurrence since George H.W. Bush in 1989.
