Town Of Turkey Says No To 'Tofurky' Name Change
TURKEY (CBSDFW.COM) - Here in Texas, there is a town named Turkey. It doesn't represent some hero's name, or a historical war battle. The town is named for the large number of the wild birds in the area.
Since the town has had the name since 1893, people living there couldn't believe their ears when they heard someone was asking them to change the name.
At last count the population of Turkey was just shy of 500 people, so residents in the tiny Texas panhandle town are used to being outnumbered by birds.
"We love Turkey and we're proud of being Turkey," one resident said.
Inspired by the wild foul found roaming the area when the town was settled, Turkey has become not just a name people are proud of, but also one that brings big business.
"Part of our living is made here for Turkey, Texas merchants, because there are turkeys here from hunters to turkey memorabilia," explained one resident.
So it was no small matter when PETA made a pre-Thanksgiving offer to the town, to change the name.
PETA proposed that the town change their name to "tofurky" – for one day. Yeah, it's what you think… the vegan, tofu-based turkey substitute.
PETA said the change would promote animal cruelty awareness.
PETA tried to sweeten the deal by including a tofurky holiday dinner for every town resident, but the response from the farming and ranching community was about as polite as one could expect.
"I would not ever want that," one resident said of the dinner off. "I would probably tell them to take it back."
In an official capacity, the mayor of Turkey told the media that there will be no name change and went on to say that he wouldn't even be responding to PETA's request.
