The Edison Park Turkey Trot is one of the longest running and most popular runs in the Chicago area. It began in 1995 when Mary O'Connor and Nancy Horn attended a suburban Thanksgiving race. The following day, Mary thought that Edison Park needed a Turkey Trot race of its own to celebrate the holiday as a community. Mary then approached local community members and asked them to start a 5K race on Thanksgiving morning. From there, a committee was formed and the planning began. As they planned for their race in 1996, they were told they would be lucky if they had 250 participants. However, they proved them wrong and had over 500 runners at the first Edison Park Turkey Trot. Over the last 29 years, the race has grown exponentially. The Turkey Trot welcomes over 6,000 participants on Thanksgiving morning.

Our committee's goal has always been to bring people together and to raise money for worthy charities. Over the past 29 years we have done just that. We have donated well over a million dollars to various charities, and we have had runners and walkers from all across the country take part in the race. We are grateful for the thousands of participants who have joined us over the years, and we hope that our tradition of the Turkey Trot has become yours. We are honored that so many choose to spend Thanksgiving morning with us, as we run together to give back to wonderful charities.