Jennie-O Turkey Store is raising the National Thanksgiving Turkey

Jennie-O 082523 001.jpg — Jennie-O Turkey Store has posted a banner outside its headquarters celebrating the company as the "Home of the 2023 National Thanksgiving Turkey."

By Kelly Boldan

August 27, 2023 at 2:04 PM

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. 鈥� Jennie-O Turkey Store announced Thursday. Aug. 24, that two Minnesota-based turkeys will be flown to the White House in November, to be pardoned by President Joe Biden.

The presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the president is a tradition started in 1947 when President Harry Truman received a live turkey from the National Turkey Federation. The 2023 Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation with mark the 76th year of the White House tradition.

Jennie-O Turkey Store, the Willmar-based subsidiary of Hormel Foods, introduced their turkeys for their first public appearance Thursday afternoon on the Christensen Farms Stage at the Minnesota State Fair. The last time a Jennie-O-raised turkey was presented at the White House was 30 years ago, according to Jennie-O President Steve Lykken.

The turkeys being raised on a Jennie-O Turkey Store farm for consideration of being picked as the National Thanksgiving Turkey of 2023 made their first public appearance Thursday at the Minnesota State Fair.

"We have some of the best production professionals in the industry and those are the ones caring for these birds," Lykken said, according to a Star Tribune report.

Lykken is the chairman of the National Turkey Federation in 2023.

In recent years, the National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternates have been "pardoned" by the president. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush issued the first turkey pardon, which was the 200th anniversary of President George Washington's Proclamation of a Day of Thanksgiving.

The exact location of the farm raising the turkeys under consideration to be the National Thanksgiving Turkey has not been released for security reasons.

Recent years have been stressful for the turkey industry in Minnesota and the nation, due to the avian flu infecting poultry flocks and wild birds across the nation. When a poultry flock 鈥� chickens or turkeys 鈥� is infected, the entire flock has to be culled.

The state of Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in the nation. Jennie-O's company headquarters are located in Willmar, with processing plants in Willmar and several other locations in the state.

The White House will select the names for the 2023 National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate, according to the National Turkey Federation. In recent years, the White House social media campaign has engaged the public to vote on which turkey should be presented as the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

The last Minnesota turkeys making the grade as the National Thanksgiving Turkey were:

2017 鈥� Drumstick and Wishbone from Alexandria.
2013 鈥� Popcorn and Caramel from Badger.
2011 鈥� Liberty and Peace from Willmar. Willmar Poultry provided the birds raised near Willmar with the help of four members of the local high school FFA chapter.

By Kelly Boldan

Kelly Boldan is the editor and site manager of the West Central Tribune since June 2, 2024. He also is editorial director of the Central Lakes Group in ., directing the newsrooms in the and . He was named editor of the West Central Tribune and Wctrib.com in Willmar, Minnesota in October 2001. He joined Forum Communications Co. in November 1998 as editor of the .

He can be reached via email: or telephone: .