WASHINGTON — The turkey that President Barack Obama will pardon this year for Thanksgiving is going to George Washington’s house, not Mickey Mouse’s, after his life is spared.
A Disneyland spokesman said Friday that after five years of taking turkeys, the park will no longer become home to the bird that the president pardons in an annual White House ceremony. Instead, after Obama pardons the turkey Wednesday, the fortunate fowl will live out the rest of its life at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate in Virginia.
“We’re moving on to do new things and surprise our guests with new things,” said Disneyland spokesman John McClintock.
The 21-week-old turkey being pardoned this year will arrive in Washington from California next week and stay at the W Hotel, just a block from the White House. Once at Mount Vernon, he’ll be driven to his pen in a horse-drawn carriage and be greeted with a trumpet fanfare.
Emily Coleman Dibella, a spokeswoman for Mount Vernon, said it is appropriate that the turkey will go to Washington’s home. In 1789, Washington became the first president to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation, and the Washingtons also raised and ate turkeys at Mount Vernon. Wild turkeys still roam the estate.
