Registration is open for Hopkinsville’s 22nd annual Turkey Trot, the city’s Thanksgiving Day 5K that typically attracts more than 1,000 people.
Participants can register online with Hopkinsville Parks and Recreation until Nov. 9. It’s a free, non-competitive event open to walkers, runners, bicyclists, babies in strollers, toddlers in wagons and leashed dogs. The 2023 Turkey Trot T-shirts can be purchased for $25 on the registration site.
The Turkey Trot starts at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 23, on South Main Street near Founders Square. The route goes through downtown and a portion of the Hopkinsville Greenway.
The first Turkey Trot was organized by the Pennyrile Rail Trail Foundation to raise awareness for creating the recreational path along the U.S. Army’s old railroad spur through Hopkinsville.
The foundation was an early advocate for the rail-trail, which became a reality in 2013 when the city completed Phase I of the Hopkinsville Greenway. The first section, about 3.15 miles, runs from the old river trail near North Drive to Pardue Lane. Phase II, a 1.7-mile section from Pardue Lane to Foston Chapel Road, was completed just before Thanksgiving in 2020.
For many participants, the Turkey Trot is like a homecoming. Locals join former residents who are in town for the holiday and spend the morning together before heading home for the Thanksgiving meal.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
