MONTGOMERY — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey conducted a ceremony at the governor’s mansion on Monday in which she pardoned Clyde and Henrietta, two turkeys who will now peacefully live out the rest of their days on a farm.
The two gobblers were provided by the Bates family that operates Bates Turkey Farm and the famous Bates House of Turkey restaurant in Greenville. The pardoning event was conducted by Alabama Egg and Poultry Association President Johnny Adams.
Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Rick Pate and Becky Bates Sloan, the proprietor of Bates House of Turkey, both spoke at the pardoning and urged the public to buy products made and/or grown in Alabama to put on their tables this Thanksgiving.
“If ever we needed to support our local businesses, it is this year,” said Bates Sloane at the event, explaining the pandemic knocked businesses like hers “to our knees.”
“As you prepare your Thanksgiving menu … there is certainly sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies and things that can be made with Alabama products,” relayed Pate at the ceremony after agreeing that turkeys should be bought locally if possible.
He also mentioned his department’s Sweet Grown Alabama branding, launched earlier in 2020, which labels locally grown products in stores.
Sweet Grown Alabama provides an online database that allows citizens to find local farmers near them.
Pate also made the official appeal to Ivey on behalf of Clyde and Henrietta, asking her to spare their lives this Thanksgiving season.
Pardoning turkeys in Alabama is a Thanksgiving giving tradition that dates back more than 71 years. The Bates family has always been the governor’s turkey supplier, and one of the turkeys has always been named Clyde.
The 2020 ceremony saw a selection of 5th graders from Montgomery Christian School play a Thanksgiving song for those in attendance.
“Clyde and Henrietta, by the power invested in me, I hereby pardon you from the Thanksgiving table,” remarked Ivey when she took the podium.
The two birds will live out their days on the Bates family farm in Greenville.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
