Turkey Wattle Waddle -- some background/history

 

In the Barbato family, there has always been interest and an informal Thanksgiving Day tradition for getting fresh air and a little exercise before the big feast (the rest of the year, not so much...). 

It began when my brothers and I were young boys. Our dad (aka John B; or Papa John) would take us on a walk from our house in Lyncourt, just over the city line, all the way to “the Grays” Butternut Street homestead on Syracuse’s North Side, the rest of the year we’d always drive between our house and theirs. “The Grays" is John-speak for the DeSantis/Frascati relatives– my Grandma Mary & Grandpa Lawrence (Lorenzo) DeSantis and Auntie Mary (and our Great-grandma ‘Scati before she died). According to my dad, this was a way of working up our appetites - and I suspect a way to get the kids out of the way of the cooks!

LtoR  - Johnny, John (Dad) and Bobby (This was proabably Easter, not Thanksgiving, but this is how we looked back in the day)

A Thanksgiving dinner LtoR  - Auntie Mary, Nancy Jean (Mom), Bobby, John (Dad) Tommy

A Thanksgiving dinner LtoR  - Great-Grandma Nunziata Frascati (Gramma 'Scati), Auntie Mary, Tommy, John (Dad), Nancy Jean (Mom), Bobby, Johnny

That walk was no more than three miles I’d guess. Yet it seemed like a long journey to me, full of sights and sounds while traversing several neighborhoods and busy thoroughfares on foot. The rest of the year that trip was always by car. Syracuse, in late November, can be very cold and brisk (or worse)– I remember us in heavy overcoats and jackets, plodding what seemed to be uphill the whole way. 

We could smell turkeys cooking and pies baking from Darlington Rd., on Grant Blvd and all down Butternut Street – passing by dozens of single and multi-family houses, apartments, storefront shops and businesses (like Kress Drugs -open on Thanksgiving! They never closed—they were probably the first 24/7 drug store in the world).  

As we grew into teens and young adults one year there was a Thanksgiving running challenge. I proposed to run around our block (an approx. ¼ mile loop of Darlington Rd/Hillside St/Kenwick Ave/Orwood Pl) a certain number of times (I don’t remember how many, maybe 10 times?). I made it fairly organized with a big yellow piece of tape on the sidewalk in front of our house to serve as my start and finish line – and Papa John as an official observer. Tom (aka Tommy) always a tease and naysayer, bet me $10 that I could not do it – long story short, I did it and never saw the $10! (Maybe he needed to get a loan from Johnny!) There is a Super 8 movie Dad filmed of this somewhere.

More recently, the one and only, and perhaps last, time the entire family was together for Thanksgiving at Grandma Jean’s and Papa Johns’ house, several of us did the first Auntie Run – something a bit more organized among the family. We ran from Sophie Druciak’s house in Eastwood to Auntie Mary DeSantis’ house on Darlington Road. It was fun, with Papa John and Jake driving along the route as race marshals/security/first aid – and Aunt Mary reluctant to let Tom in the house to use the bathroom at the finish! I think Joe and Bridget were the fastest.

From these origins we grew the idea of a virtual Thanksgiving Day walk or run to share the joy of exercise and the experiencing the world around us, wherever we were. And many of us began taking part in official Turkey Trot races and events in our communities I think because of our history.

On this special day to be grateful, let's use the Wattle Waddle as a way of showing appreciation for the gift of health, the chance to get fitter, and a time to share with each other what’s important in life.

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