WORTHINGTON -- Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a ... ping pong ball?
Actually, it's a lot of ping pong balls -- 1,000 to be exact --and each is the key to one of 1,000 prizes donated by local businesses.
It is the hope of the King Turkey Day Midway Committee that 1,000 people will turn out Friday evening at the Masonic Lodge, where committee members will drop the white plastic balls onto the waiting crowd.
"We want everybody to come out," said Susanne Murphy of the committee. "It's all about getting people downtown."
Among the prizes for the taking are a boy's and girl's bicycle, Weber Grill, Renaissance Festival tickets, $50 cash, gift cards to local grocers, restaurants and retailers and plenty more, as well as a special bucket of treats for youngsters.
ADVERTISEMENT
"There's prizes for everyone," Murphy said, and there is no limit on the amount of balls each person can collect -- though committee members hope participants don't get too greedy.
The ping pong ball drop has been a part of King Turkey Day festivities before -- according to one source, the "Turkeys Away" episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" originally aired in 1978 inspired the first event.
"Years and years ago, they used to drop (ping pong balls) from planes," Murphy said.
The drop will follow the decathlon and is scheduled for approximately 7:30 p.m.
