On Thanksgiving morning, a starting horn cut through the frosty air in Downtown Minneapolis as thousands of runners set off for the 35th annual Turkey Day 5K.

Twin Cities In Motion hosted this year’s race, and an estimated 7,000 runners registered, according to TCM President Dean Orton. This year’s loop was his favorite yet, he said. 

Runners started and ended near The Commons park, the loop taking runners through the outskirts of the North Loop neighborhood and on the West River Parkway Trail past Minneapolis landmarks such as the Stone Arch Bridge.

Both runners and spectators came dressed for the occasion. Turkey onesies and hats with turkey heads dotted the streets. Bells rang through the air as people cheered runners on from the sidelines. 

Minneapolis resident Marian Beumer has been coming to the race for 20 years. She rang two purple bells near the finish line, waiting for her husband and daughter to run past. 

“I am a fan,” she said. “It’s so great to see people coming out to exercise and be together, moving.” 

The Minneapolis Turkey Day 5K traces its origins to Bob Pickering, who is from Massachusetts, where the state high school football game was traditionally played on Thanksgiving morning. After moving to Minnesota in the 1970s, he opted to replace the tradition by hosting a morning run and brunch among neighbors.

The run eventually grew to around 50 participants by 1989, prompting Pickering to launch an official race the following year in Downtown Minneapolis, which had 538 finishers. 

The event eventually surpassed 13,000 runners at its peak in the early 2000s. After a pause during COVID-19, racing nonprofit Twin Cities in Motion began hosting the event. 

Pickering, 83 years old at the time, was honored as the race’s official starter, joining four generations of his family on the course.

“We’re just excited to keep bringing it back strong,” Orton said. “It’s just a huge family and Minnesota tradition.”

The Minneapolis Turkey Trot is the largest of its kind in Minnesota, and hundreds of volunteers help run it, he said. Many streets in Downtown Minneapolis shut down for the event.

“You don’t normally get to run on these roads or get to see the city in this way,” Orton said. “It is a unique opportunity to see Minneapolis, run along the river and enjoy the beauty of our city.”

Tom, the inflatable turkey, made his debut for the first time near the finish line. Kyle Marten, who just completed the 5K, stood nearby and waited for his wife and son to finish. An avid runner in his 20s, he stopped for a while before picking it back up in his 40s, after running the Trot for the first time.

“This is where I got back into running,” he said. “We did this about three years ago. I enjoyed it. It’s like, ‘Okay, I’m going to try to do better next year.’”

Marten said running in the race is now a tradition.

“It’s fun to be out in the city,” he said. “There’s no traffic. You get the city to yourself.”  

People are welcome to both run and walk the course, and many pushed strollers and took breaks to enjoy the views. A record number of 2,000 kids signed up this year through the TCM’s TC Kids Run Free program, Orton said.

“It’s all about a way for us to kind of come together as a community around motion,” he said. “It’s a really great way to start the day.”