WINDHAM, N.H. — Walk, jog, roll or — if you must — run at the Windham Turkey Trot.
The key to success at the Blossom Road cul-de-sac on Thanksgiving morning is being there.
You are as likely to see someone dunking a doughnut hole into a cup as you are a runner seriously limbering up before the start.
There will be neither chip-embedded bibs on runners nor a digital race clock on the grounds.
Outside the home of Joseph and Julie DeWane, you will find a kitchen clock on a stepladder and folks in sweatpants and turkey hats.
“We don’t actually clock anybody,” says Steve Johnson, the race master of ceremonies.
At last year’s event, they couldn’t find the kitchen clock and will have to scare up a replacement this year.
Welcome to the Windham Turkey Trot. It’s aptly named.
The only real race is to outdo last year’s fundraising for the Shepherd’s Pantry’s work feeding the hungry, a growing number, some 200 New Hampshire families each month. Volunteers operate a drive-through pantry at Windham Presbyterian Church from 9:30 to 11 a.m. on Monday mornings.
Meanwhile, some 30 Turkey Trot volunteers preside over the Thanksgiving event.
The trot is scheduled to start at 9 a.m., but no one is going to fret if the volunteers aren’t able to herd the runners to the line on time.
People can register that morning.
“We kind of let the kiddos go off first on their bikes and scooters so nobody gets hurt,” Johnson says.
Then the runners can stride the 1-mile, 3-mile or 5-mile routes around that neighborhood.
Finally, the people in the back take their turns.
They are the walkers, including families with young kids, parents pushing baby strollers and others who favor a leisurely pace. There for the fresh air, exercise and to support a good cause.
A new tradition has emerged, called “Turkey on the Run”: Resident Mark Wimmer dons a turkey costume and darts among participants. People who pull a feather from his hindquarter can redeem it for a Thanksgiving pie.
A gigantic inflatable turkey, sponsored by Bill DeLuca Family of Dealerships, draws families for photos.
The trot festivities wind down with time to get to grandmother’s house or for grandmothers to get to participants’ homes for their turkey dinners and family festivities.
The trot is the food pantry’s primary annual fundraiser.
More than 1,000 participants registered in each of the past two years, and organizers hope for a similar turnout this year.
While the pantry serves residents from anywhere in New Hampshire, most recipients come from Windham, Salem, Derry and Londonderry, Johnson says.
The Turkey Trot started in 1995 when two Blossom Road neighbors, Louise Peltz and Heidi Reever, organized a neighborhood fun run on Thanksgiving morning. Fifty people took part, and canned goods were collected for the pantry.
It got bigger and bigger and bigger over the years. When Peltz and her husband, Claude, retired from the trot in 2019, Shepherd’s Pantry took the turkey reins.
The trot raises about $50,000 each year from entry fees, and all of the money goes to helping the pantry’s clients.
“We augment what we get at the New Hampshire Food Bank with fresh vegetables or buy turkeys or do something special,” Johnson says.
That might include paper products, personal care items and laundry detergent, things that are a big help to people living week to week, paycheck to paycheck.
“Just these last few weeks, we passed out a voucher for gas cards, and they were so happy with that considering how much gas costs to get to the pantry,” he says.
Against a backdrop of need, the trot helps the pantry help people at the holidays.
Coffee, costumes and care rule the roost on Thanksgiving morning.