One of America’s most favorite holidays is Thanksgiving, and what better place to celebrate Thanksgiving than where it all started – in America’s Hometown, Plymouth, Mass.
Everyone knows the story of the first Thanksgiving. In a small colony in the new world, 52 Pilgrims shared a harvest feast with over 90 Native American Wampanoag Indians. That feast lasted three days and prepared the way for the modern day holiday we now celebrate. That small colony was then known as Plimoth.
Thanksgiving in modern-day Plymouth has much to offer those interested in the history of the holiday. It also offers just as much to those interested in having a lot of fun. From a weekend-long celebration, with concerts, a parade and food, held the weekend prior to Thanksgiving, to dining options offered at Plimoth Plantation on Thanksgiving Day, Plymouth is the only place to be for Thanksgiving.
It all starts Friday, Nov. 21, the weekend before Thanksgiving, according to David Lybarger, one of the organizers of America’s Hometown Celebration.
“This is the 13th year of our celebration,” he said. “The whole weekend begins Friday night with a patriotic concert at Memorial Hall. It’s free to the public, and it’s a first-come, first-served general seating.”
Performing this year will be Tops in Blue.
“It’s the Air Force’s premier Expeditionary Entertainment unit,” Lybarger said. “This will be their second time here at Thanksgiving. Opening for them will be the United States Coast Guard Presidential Honor Guard, which is a silent drill team out of Washington, D.C.”
Saturday morning starts off with the parade’s opening ceremonies at Plymouth Rock at 10:30 a.m.
“There will be welcoming speeches, the Plymouth Idol singing the National Anthem, Singing Trooper Dan Clark, a mini-performance by the Tops in Blue and an Air Force flyover with four F-15s,” Lybarger said.
The 101st Artillery Unit will provide three Howitzers for a Howitzer salute at the same time the F-15s are flying overhead.
“Randy Price and Frances Rivera will be the Grand Marshals again this year,” Lybarger said. “The parade steps off at 11 a.m. from Nelson Field and, as always, the theme is ‘America through the Years.’ ”
Also starting at 11 a.m. is this year’s New England Food Festival. There will be 20 high-end restaurants vying for prizes, photos opportunities and much more.
“There will be everything from soup to nuts,” Lybarger said. “We’re trying to give it a shot in the arm, so this year we’ve increased the size of the food pavilion and hope to have 3,000 people go through.”
There will be judges and people’s choice awards, but the prize coveted the most by those entering?
“Bragging rights,” Lybarger said. “For the next year, winners can brag about being named the New England Food Festival’s Best Chowder or Best Dessert. It’s great for their advertising.”
There will be other pavilions set up that day, including a crafters pavilion, a sponsor’s pavilion, a Native American pavilion and an equestrian pavilion. According to Lybarger, the New England Crafters Village will have crafters and vendors selling their wares.
“It’s really high-end stuff,” he said. “Lots of Thanksgiving-related items.”
There will be authentic, hand-made items for sale at the Native American pavilion, as well.
The weekend culminates with another concert at Memorial Hall, featuring all of the drum and bugle corps from the parade. Tickets are required for this concert and are available at www.usathanksgiving.com.
“We have seven confirmed drum and bugle corps at this time,” Lybarger said, “including the Boston Senior Crusaders, St. Kevin’s Emerald Knights, The Hawthorne Caballeros, The Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights and Park City Price. And, as you can imagine, the sound they make in Memorial Hall is incredible. It’s a great ending to the festivities.”
While in Plymouth during the fall season, check out The Jenney Grist Mill. Proprietors Nancy and Leo Martin celebrate Thanksgiving’s more practical side.
“At the Grist Mill, we celebrate Thanksgiving by highlighting the harvest time and the importance of the harvest to the first Thanksgiving of 1621,” Nancy Martin said. “We emphasize the importance of corn, or maize, to the survival of the Pilgrims.”
There are guided tours daily, except Tuesdays, when the Grist Mill is closed.
“During the tour, people get to experience the operation of the mill, along with all the rich history of the Pilgrims and of Thanksgiving. We will also touch on the second Thanksgiving in 1623,” she said.
For more information regarding scheduling and the cost of the tour, you can e-mail the Martins at info@jenneygristmill.orgor visit them on the Web at www.jenneygristmill.org.
If you want an experience that will bring you right back to the first Thanksgiving on Leyden Street in the 1620s, then Plimoth Plantation is the only place in the world to be.
“No one does Thanksgiving like Plimoth Plantation,” Plimoth Plantation Executive Director John McDonagh said. “The museum is the quintessential Thanksgiving experience, complete with the sites, smells and sounds that have the power to transport visitors back four centuries, while providing a modern, bicultural perspective on the truth behind a truly beloved holiday.”
Check out the many dining options at the Plantation that range from a 17th-century dining experience to a modern-day a la carte Thanksgiving dinner. According to Jennifer Monac, public relations manager for the plantation, during the months of October and November, you can experience the “1627 Dine With the Pilgrims” program.
“This dinner, held in the Visitor Center, is a unique opportunity to taste and discover what really happened during the famous harvest dinner of 1621,” she said. “It is a meal filled with entertainment and hospitality shared with Pilgrim residents of Plimoth Plantation”
According to Monac, the Plantation also offers a dining program, which is held each year on the Friday after Thanksgiving called, “Eat Like A Pilgrim.” For this one, visitors are encouraged to put down their utensils and eat with their fingers.
“Learn the 17th-century table manners that came to Plimoth Colony with the Pilgrims, and taste a truly New England menu, including turkey, pompion, sweet Indian corn pudding, cheese, bread and cider,” she said.
If you want a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Plimoth Plantation offers the “Victorian Thanksgiving” dinner experience with four seatings, three on Thanksgiving and one the day after Thanksgiving.
If you’re looking for a 21st-century option on Thanksgiving Day, the museum puts on a Thanksgiving Buffet spread that offers turkey and “all the fixings” of the modern-day Thanksgiving dinner. And from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the courtyard of the Visitor Center, there is an A-La-Carte Thanksgiving dinner available, as well.
For more information on reservations and ticket prices check out the website at www.plimoth.org.
While many see Thanksgiving as a celebration, there is a more somber side of it for some. Members of the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) do not celebrate Thanksgiving; instead they note the day as a National Day of Mourning. Since 1970, it has become an annual tradition for the UAINE to protest and march in Plymouth on Thanksgiving Day. They see Thanksgiving as a time to mourn their ancestors. Each year at noon on Cole’s Hill, members of the UAINE gather to speak about their history and the current-day struggles of the Native American people. For more information on the Day of Mourning, contact the UAINE at info@uaine.org or check out their Web site at www.uaine.org.
The Pilgrim Progress is another, more somber celebration of Thanksgiving in Plymouth. It begins on North Street at the Mayflower Society House and ends at Burial Hill at the site of the Pilgrims’ first fort, where they met for worship.
There are 51 costumed participants who represent the 51 survivors of the first brutal winter of 1621. A mournful drumbeat accompanies the marchers as they walk along the waterfront. Once gathered at Burial Hill, there is a short worship service. The Pilgrim Progress begins at 10 Thanksgiving morning.
So no matter what your experience of Thanksgiving has been before, Plymouth is the place to be for Thanksgiving. David Lybarger describes it best. “There’s only one place in the country, in fact, only one place in the world that can really celebrate Thanksgiving – and that’s Plymouth, Mass.”
