The Mid-Marion County Rotary Club will continue its sponsorship of Turkey Trot next year in Yellville. Festival president Stan Duffy announced Tuesday the club voted to sponsor Turkey Trot for a second time in 2019.
The local Rotary Club took over the sponsorship of this year’s festival in April. The Yellville Chamber of Commerce had dropped its sponsorship of the state’s longest continuous festival earlier this year because of the tradition of live turkeys being tossed from airplanes. There were no sightings of turkeys dropped from a plane at this year’s festival.
Duffy also announced with most of the accounting complete, the Mid-Marion County Rotary Club raised in excess of $12,000. He says the the support and generosity of the community helped make the 73rd-annual Turkey Trot possible, and the proceeds will enable to the club to increase support for local charities, youth leadership-oriented programs and scholarships to graduating seniors. The scholarship program normally accounts for one-third of the money spent.
The Rotary Club allocated $1,500 to Emilie Moody representing the Marion County Extension Family and Consumer Agency to fund its youth leadership program. The club then accepted a challenge from a fellow Rotarian to match a $1,000 donation to the Marion County Historical Society, sent $400 to Shots for Tots and approved a $1,000 donation for the splash pad project at Yellville City Park. The donations followed the club sending six high school juniors to Welling, Oklahoma, for the annual Rotary Youth Leadership Activities for four days in October.
The Mid-Marion County Rotary Club’s sponsorship of this year’s Turkey Trot was contingent on no live turkeys being on the premises or dropped from airplanes. Duffy says that continues to be the club’s position for 2019.
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