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Candace Summers
McLean County Museum of History
When you think of âTurkey Day,â it may drum up images of family gatherings around the table on Thanksgiving Day, the Macyâs parade or football games. But, in the late 1930s, during the later days of the Great Depression, âTurkey Dayâ in Bloomington took on a different meaning.
On Dec. 21, 1937, the first Turkey Day was held in downtown Bloomington, sponsored by the Junior Association of Commerce (JAC) as a business promotional plan with the assistance of Association of Commerce, Peopleâs Bank, McLean County Bank, the National Bank of Bloomington, the American State Bank, Corn Belt Bank, and The Pantagraph. Open to any resident in Central Illinois, the event had participants vie for the chance to win one of 100 turkeys, geese, ducks, guinea hens or chickens to be given away that day.