The 22nd annual Turkey Drop will take place on the southwest fire escape at Neihardt tomorrow at 4 p.m., hosted by KWSC-FM  91.9 The Cat.
“This event originated 22 years ago because the adviser at the time wanted a big project for the radio students,” radio station adviser Michael Marek said. “This big event is a big project to plan, organize and stage, and things like that.”
The vision for the event came from rather strange beginnings.
“The event is inspired by a very famous episode of situational comedy TV series ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’” Marek said, “in which the radio station had an event where they dropped live turkeys from a helicopter, and the person who organized it didn’t realize that turkeys couldn’t fly.”
Granted that there will be no live turkeys being thrown, but that hasn’t stopped others from bringing frozen turkeys to stay close to the original material.
“Figurative turkeys can be a wide range of things,” Marek said. “Some things are made especially for the event to make a big splat. Some things are just like an old dresser that someone doesn’t need any more or sometimes people drop pumpkins to again make a big splat.”
The process itself is to take the items up the Neihardt fire escape and drop them onto a tarp with a bullseye below.
There will be prizes for categories such as biggest splat, longest hang time, best-dressed turkey and people’s choice category.
Judges will include President Marysz Rames, Jeffery Carstens and Quinneka Lee.
Of course, Marek isn’t doing this alone. Instead he is being assisted by the general manager of the radio station, Taylor Clark.
“It’s a fun time,” said Clark. “It’s a little cold sometimes, but basically we take items that people have submitted, made sure that they’re OK, like no glass or hazardous material or anything like that. If that’s all good, we all sign up, and don’t have to do anything after that.”
The event will be broadcasted live over 91.9 The Cat, much like a play-by-play for sports.
The Turkey Drop is open to any and all participants, even for those who are not with the college. Just make sure that there are no hazardous materials, knock out any glass from electronics beforehand (especially if it’s a TV) and sign up early.
There have been many creative drops for the competition, such as people putting balloons or parachutes on objects for the longest hang time, and there has even been a two-gallon water jug filled with glitter thrown and splattered on the tarp.
WildCat PR has also been helping in advertising by holding a booth for those who wish to enter. It will be open for entries up until the dropping, maybe having a few extra openings even then.
The Turkey Drop will be Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Neihardt southwest fire escape. There will be a large inflatable turkey marking the drop zone, to attract the audience.