Thanksgiving is my fucking favorite holiday of the year. I know my boss will disapprove of my pulling out the f-bomb in the opening sentence of our cover story this week, but quite honestly, I think Thanksgiving deserves it. Where other holidays might be summed up adequately without an expletive-laden exclamation on their behalf, Thanksgiving is different. Thanksgiving is my type of holiday. Thanksgiving, and all the turkey, stuffing, gluttony, and pumpkin pie are as good as it gets.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving when I was growing up was — no surprise here — watching the football games. But within the football, I especially loved it when John Madden would hand out his turkey leg awards after the game. Somehow — and when I was a kid I was never actually clear as to how — Madden would always find and cook this huge, glistening beast of a turkey with, like, 17 enormous turkey legs, and he’d award these meaty trophies to whoever earned them in the game. As a kid I never thought about what kind of radioactivity, hormones or good old-fashioned meat sewing a 17 legged turkey actually implied.

Even now that times have changed and Madden has moved to a different network and no longer distributes his dark meat medals of honor after football games on Thanksgiving, this holiday — in my mind, at least — will always be synonymous with those turkey leg awards from yesteryear. 

In honor of Madden’s turkey leg awards, here at the Weekly Volcano we thought we’d hand out a few of our own. But as Weekly Volcano scribe Paul Schrag quickly pointed out, awarding only turkey legs isn’t good enough for Tacoma. Tacoma deserves an array of juicy and delicious selections from the sacrificial bird — from legs to thick-ass thighs. 

You can’t argue with that logic.

 

In honor of my favorite holiday, the Weekly Volcano would like to hand out a few turkey awards of our own to a few of the many people and organizations in Tacoma and Pierce County who we’re particularly thankful for this year. — Matt Driscoll

JULIE BENNETT

First, a big ol’ Thick-ass Turkey Thigh to Julie Bennett for cultivating nine strains of awesome while running a business in Tacoma, being a mom and wife, and looking fantastic all the while. 

 

For starters, Bennett owns and operates urbanXchange, a recycled fashion Mecca with an ever-evolving lineup of clothes for the extremely fashion conscious. True to her overall ethos, Bennett uses urbanXchange as a platform for building community and catalyzing the evolution of art and culture in Tacoma. When she’s not running a multi-faceted business operation or tending to her family, she arranges and hosts fashion shows, concerts, arts emporiums, events, festivals, fund-raisers, and volunteers her time and energy (which seems boundless) to local causes. 

 

Did we mention that the events she throws are otherworldly and awesome as well as generally altruistic? 

 

TacomaOpolis, for example, brought together a roving crew of artists, fashionistas and performers to benefit the Helm and Fulcrum galleries when things started looking tough for local art galleries. When Tall Ships came to town, she cooked up a plan to connect downtown businesses with visitors by offering coupons in the form of pirate coins, accompanied by maps of participating businesses. Meanwhile, she’s been relocating and expanding her store and will share her business space with the recently hatched Southend Records, a classic, hole-in-the-wall music store, and another in a long line of efforts to support local musicians. Those examples don’t even begin to scratch the surface of this Superwoman’s good deeds. Give thanks that she’s in Tacoma, folks. — Paul Schrag

ERIC ANDERSON

Next, a juicy, Thick-ass Thigh to city of Tacoma Manager Eric Anderson for holding Tacoma strongly by the reins, managing with a firm, but thoughtful hand, and, more than anything, for getting things done during difficult times. 

 

Oh, and for being brave enough to sit down with Weekly Volcano scribes to discuss politics. 

Since he was hired, Anderson has earned praise for enforcing fiscal responsibility, wooing the public, orchestrating key projects, and helping make Tacoma look good to the outside world. Anderson received yet another round of high marks this year from the Tacoma City Council as part of his annual review.

 

For all you armchair community planners out there, consider Anderson a role model. 

His ambition shone brightly this year when he helped lead efforts to build a community-based services program, which seeks to bring city officials, public leaders and gung-ho volunteers together to make Tacoma a better place to live. As with any project of this magnitude, there are some kinks to work out. But that’s what happens when visionaries start dabbling in reality. Early reports indicate commendable successes in cleaning up blighted neighborhoods, reducing crime and improving the city’s image. He even sparked an effort to cut crime in Tacoma by 50 percent in a few short years. Sure it sounds crazy, but that’s the kind of ambition that changes things. Anderson’s efforts to draw community interests together, build bridges and do more with less make him more than worthy of our thanks and praise. — John Herbert

ELECTION WORKERS

How ’bout throwing a super-sized family bucket of Thick-ass Thighs to the thousands of election workers and volunteers who worked their tails off to make this historic election go off? Workers and volunteers staffed polling stations, maintained voting booths, express booths, ballot boxes, and voting machines; staffed Pierce County election headquarters before, during and after elections; counted and recounted ballots; tended parking lots near polling stations; and shuttled ballots around the county. I’m sure I missed a few roles. But you get the idea. Aside from King County, Pierce was the only county to collect votes at the polls — every other county voted strictly by mail. As the election culminated, many workers and volunteers worked 16-hour days. Trying to catch up with record voter turnouts and a complicated new voting system, some of these benevolent psychos are still counting ballots as you read this. No joke. 

 

This year also marked the go-live of Pierce County’s ranked-choice voting system, which was voted into existence in 2006. The system eliminated primary elections for most county offices, placing all candidates on the general ballot, which explains the six people vying for the assessor-treasurer’s seat and four for county executive. The system invoked a complex system of elimination for some races, which meant lots of extra learning and work for county elections workers. They came through with flying colors, slogging through a backbreaker of a historic election. Whether you’re pleased with the election results or not, give these folks some props and a Thick-ass Thigh. They earned ’em. — Simon Moon

BROADWAY CENTER

Three years ago, who could have guessed what the Broadway Center was about to become?

 

Its new leaders — Executive Director David Fischer and Deputy Executive Director Benjii Bittle — have transformed a behemoth organization into one that is surprisingly nimble. They have more than doubled regular programming and filled in blanks with new performances at a moment’s notice.

 

When things get really full, they get creative and book events into other venues. And when things get really empty — such as when TAG’s closure last year left the Theatre on the Square with too many dark nights — they decided to foster a new professional theater organization. Theatre Northwest will produce four shows at Theatre on the Square with backing from the Broadway Center.

 

They truly live their mission of “connecting people in the heart of Tacoma.”

So give ’em a drumstick! And not some pre-fab KFC drumstick, either. I’m talking about one of those giant drumsticks you see in medieval movies that looks as big as the turkey it came from. I’m so very happy we have them here. — Erik Hanberg

BROADWAY LID

As a former city of Tacoma employee and now just an average citizen, I have to say with conviction that the Broadway Local Improvement District is a construction project that should receive not only a drumstick but also both wings. This project offers a coordinated and innovative municipal approach in bringing new curbs, gutters, sidewalks, sanitary sewers, attractive streetlights, and street and alley paving to Broadway and St. Helens streets, also undergrounding unattractive overhead power lines. This LID offers a way for property owners to pay for these necessary improvements in partnership with the city. 

 

I’d like to encourage the business and property owners in this area to keep their eyes on the prize during daunting construction, and I’d also like to commend the Broadway LID construction team and their contractor, William Dickson, for being responsive to the concerns of citizens in this area. The quality of life will improve in this area after construction is complete, and even better, this street will not be dug up again for 10 years or more. — Roxanne Murphy

TACOMA FOOD CO-OP

And finally, a Thick-ass Tofurky Thigh to Amber Englund and the whole crew behind the Tacoma Food Co-op movement. What began in fits and starts has evolved into a growing reality with members signing up in droves. And that’s before there’s even a co-op. 

 

Progenitor Englund didn’t know much about food co-ops when she decided to form one sometime in 2006. With the help of umbrella organization Northwest Cooperative Development Center and a ton of volunteers, she helped nurse what some might have considered a pipe dream into a source of hope for hundreds of Tacomans. 

 

Co-ops are founded on a unique but not uncommon financial model that pays dividends to members in the form of high-quality, affordable groceries rather than quarterly checks. Many co-ops also pay small cash dividends as well — for those who still think they can eat money. 

Though still a ways from manifesting in three-dimensions, the idea behind the co-op is exciting for a lot of people because it represents a new kind of business — the kind that doesn’t take more than it needs and works giving back into its day-to-day operations. 

What’s more, the people cultivating Tacoma’s co-op have pledged to keep prices in check so everyone can afford to eat well. It won’t be as huge as Whole Foods and the selection probably won’t be as vast. But you’ll bump into people you know there, maybe even people you like. And every time you shop there, you’ll be contributing to the local economy and keeping costs down for everyone. Give thanks and praise for the dream alone. — PS