Saturday, October 10, 2015

Off to the turkey races

Vets and a classic, Cuero, Texas.
Day 2.5, Cuero, Texas

No matter how tired we are, my friend Courtney Sacco and I relish in making new experiences in places that we co-habit (first Midland/Odessa, now Victoria, Corpus Christi). So when given the opportunity to see the tiny town of Cuero (pop. 7,000) turn out en masse to watch two turkeys race down the main street, we loaded up in Courtney's jeep and drove north.

Cuero is a tiny town that has benefited greatly from the oil and gas boom of the last few years. A new H-E-B was recently completed, there have been talks to expand the Wal-Mart, and a new gym is springing up at the high school. But now the community, like many others in shale oil plays, is being hurt by the downturn in the oil industry. Prices remain around $50 a barrel, the future remains uncertain, and many companies have announced layoffs. I'm sure that I'll get to cover such issues further, but today wasn't about oil.

It was about turkeys.

Cuero's 3x champion, Ruby Begonia.
Cuero used to be a major turkey hub in the U.S., and like cattle runs of old the turkey farmers would move their rafters (the name for a group of turkeys) down the main drag to get them to market. One November run had as many as 18,000 turkeys strutting down to their slaughter, killed and packaged at a processing plant next to the railroad tracks.

As the industry waned in the 1970s, word got around that Cuero had competition for the claim to "Turrkey Capital of the World" in the form of Worthington, Minnesota (pop. 13,000, about 50 miles east of Sioux Falls). In an attempt to gin up some PR for the respective towns the editors of the respective local newspapers, The Cuero Record and the Worthington Daily Globe, hatched the idea for a turkey race to settle the argument once and for all.

Forty-three years later and the turkeys still waddle down the main drag for 150 yards, their team of coaches close on their heels. This year pitted Ruby Begonia, Cuero's three-time champion, against Worthington's Paycheck.

An adoring fan snaps a shot of Ruby.
 The race and festival is nothing but pure Americana, as Courtney put it. The entire town seems to line the five-lane main drag. Local police crack jokes with locals. Pistols are carried by law enforcement and citizen alike on belt holsters. The football team (the Gobblers) are wearing their uniforms sin pads in the hot sun; the cheerleaders are dolled up and ready to go. Miss Cuero (in full wedding gown-esque dress and tiara) joins the mayor and others in welcoming the crowd. The truck carrying the two birds, side-by-side, trundles down the street. Cries of "Go Ruby, go!" echo up and down the drag, the crowd encouraging their bird onward to its fourth victory.

A football player rests as he waits for the turkey race to kick off.
Courtney does what he does best - works.
 With a shout the birds are off, their teams of four coaches following behind with rattlers and flags to (try to) keep them on course. Turkeys are no thoroughbreds, but they're no slouches either. Paycheck veered toward the crowd, which backed up against the curb, giving Paycheck's team room to work. Ruby was nowhere to be seen; his group trundled along next to the trotting bird.

Paycheck on the road to victory.
 A minute later Paycheck crossed the finish line. A small group of Worthingtonians raised a shout of victory. Ruby continued down the road at a steady pace, finally crossing the line minutes later. One coach cursed, wondering aloud why the bird had been so slow. The answer came in blood spots leading to a ripped talon; the bird had essentially lost a toe tip.

An exhausted Ruby breathes heavily as a coach assesses his condition.
Ruby's blood splatters the pavement after losing Cuero's turkey race.

Ruby shed dozens of feathers after the race, leaving many floating in the wind.
Worthington won handily, but the people of Cuero did not despair. The parade full of police vehicles, the high school marching band, and floats soon made them forget the loss. But soon they will have to turn back to the realities at hand - a local economy that is faltering, a small community that may not be prepared for the harsh economic reality of the coming months, and an oil industry that is going through yet another downturn. Hopefully Cuero's energy business will not suffer a similar fate to its turkey industry.

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