Youngsters flock to Turkey Trots across Franklin County

Since 1896, runners across America have been putting themselves to the test each November, while competing for fun, glory and turkey.

Turkey Trots have been held around or on Thanksgiving since the late 1800s, when six runners from Buffalo, New York, partook in a 5-mile cross-country race. Only four of the runners completed the course.

More than a hundred years later, at Northfield Elementary School, the Turkey Trot looks a little different — more focused on fun and community building than competition. Plus, all runners complete the course.

“The purpose of this is for us to have a great community event where we are supporting each other, celebrating and being thankful,” Principal Kristen Schreiber told students before the trot, while dressed for the occasion as a turkey. “This is just for us to have fun together.”

After completing the two laps around the ballfields, students said the Turkey Trot was a good chance to spend time with students in other classes.

“We ran with our preschool buddies and it was a lot of fun,” said sixth grader Eli Lawler, who, alongside his friends Cam Godfrey and Brant Santerre, ran in pace with several preschoolers and cheered them on to the finish line.

Other students said Northfield’s Turkey Trot was a chance for them to test themselves and see how they’ve improved since last year, as well as get out of the classroom and move around.

“It was really fun and I definitely did better than last year,” Lianna Oakes said.

“I like running and it was nice to get some exercise in,” added Murphy Goddard.

After completing their trot, students lined up around home base on the baseball field, which served as both the starting line and finish line for the course, and cheered on their friends. They were allowed to run an extra lap if they had additional energy to burn off.

“I’m so proud of all of you,” Schreiber said after the trot.

Greenfield’s Newton School trots as a team

At Newton School, young trotters dashed around a course on the back lawn, sporting handmade turkey crowns and receiving high fives and beaded necklaces with each lap.

Of the members of the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) who volunteered for the race was Greenfield firefighter Adam Mitchell, who dressed in an inflatable turkey costume as a character he named “Tony the Turkey.”

“I like to get him out of the stable every now and then — he’s got a lot of energy,” Mitchell said. “We mostly just like seeing the look on [our daughter’s] face when she sees that mom and dad are here. She was pretty pumped when she saw me riding a giant turkey.”

Now in his second year organizing the Newton School Turkey Trot, physical education teacher Craig Murdock said he organized this year’s run so that different grade levels could root for each other as they run around the track.

As students ran, some hand-in-hand with their friends or while high fiving, Murdock said he wanted to promote fun and physical exercise with an emphasis on teamwork. He added that the class in each grade that runs the highest number of laps will get an extra physical education class.

“There’s such a positive, fun vibe that’s going around this year and I hope that it continues,” Murdock said. “I added a little piece of camaraderie to this. As you can tell, kindergarten and first grade is here at the same time, and we practice how to cheer for each other. It’s a spirited community event that I want our Newton School to experience every year.”

Interim Principal Carol Jacobs, explaining that the Turkey Trot also marks the kickoff of the school’s Thunderbird reading challenge, expressed a similar enthusiasm for the Thanksgiving tradition.

“They get to cheer each other on, and that was a high-spirited, fun activity for that group to be in and be positive in a friendly, purposeful competition,” Jacobs said. “All of our staff is involved in this. Every single staff member participates in some way, whether it’s giving out stickers or beads or encouraging the kids.”

Fourth grade students JJ Glasson and Star Gonzalez said they both enjoyed running around the track and earning their beaded necklaces, while another student, Araceli Cosme said she liked Tony the Turkey and spending time running with her friends.

“I got a lot of high fives,” she said.

Bernardston students set off on a sprint

The roughly 200 Bernardston Elementary School students refused to let a little rain slow them down on Wednesday morning. After touching their toes and flapping their arms like the Thanksgiving fowl, the kids sped past their families, friends and neighbors.

“It brings the community together,” Kate Neipp of Leyden said before her daughter passed her on the way to the finish line. To prepare for the Turkey Trot, Neipp’s two children practiced sprints in the backyard.

While preschoolers only ran to the end of School Road and back, first through sixth graders set off along South Street for 1-mile loop. Physical education teacher Kurt Anderson, sporting a head-to-talon turkey costume, said the kids trained for the Turkey Trot with aerobic exercises and took turns sharing what they are grateful for.

“I do that partly because of the community-building. … If someone’s thankful for their dogs and they see that five other people are thankful for their dogs, they can feel more connected to their classmates,” Anderson said.

Reading specialist Caroline Page heard the kids eagerly discussed their past trot times in class leading up to this year’s Turkey Trot.

“We’re so lucky to be in this community. I feel like it’s a really special event the kids look forward to every year,” Page said.

“It’s a lovely time for members of the community to be here at school, connect with one another and cheer on their students,” Principal Sarah Burstein said next to parents and other cheerleaders with signs.

When Burstein became principal almost two years ago, she asked the teachers about important school traditions.

“And this was top of the list,” she said.

Longtime special education teacher Jen Glazier described the trot as “a rite of passage” for residents that gives the community a chance to connect with their neighbors before the holidays.

“The school is the heart of the town,” Glazier said.