Surrounded by the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, Collinsville is home to a wildly popular festival that dates back to 1912. The Collinsville Historic Turkey Trot features a variety of family-friendly activities and its popular turkey toss that has attracted thousands of visitors over the years. In addition to a day of free fun, visitors to the annual event are treated to beautiful fall foliage and cooler temperatures that northeastern Alabama is known for during this time of the year.
The Collinsville Historic Turkey Trot, takes place on the second Saturday in November. It is a family-friendly event featuring an antique car show, music, arts and crafts and food vendors. What makes this event unique is the turkey toss from the roof of a building in downtown Collinsville. At the end of the day's festivities, crowds gather on Main Street for the historic turkey toss where, in keeping with more modern sentiments, beanie-baby turkeys are launched from the roof of a downtown business.
Turkey Trot began in 1912 as a promotional scheme for the Oliver Hall Company, a large general store located in Collinsville. The highly advertised event brought people from the surrounding area to Collinsville where turkeys, guineas and chickens were released from a scaffold built on top of the Hall’s store. The waiting crowd scrambled to catch a bird that would end up on their Thanksgiving dinner table. The Birmingham News reported as many as 10,000 crowded the streets for the exciting day that included bargains in all businesses as well as the Oliver Hall Company. Today, turkeys are still released from the roof of a building to a waiting crowd but the turkeys tossed are toy turkeys that the lucky person can trade in for a frozen bird. In addition to attracting visitors to Collinsville for a day of fun, the event has become a major fundraising activity for the restoration of the Cricket Theatre.
