$1 is the cost per pound in December 2004 of a frozen whole turkey.

3 is the number of places nationwide named after the holiday's tasty gobbler. Turkey, Texas, is the most populous, with 496 residents; followed by Turkey Creek, La. (357); and Turkey, N.C. (267). There also are 16 townships around the country named "Turkey," three of them in Kansas.

8 is the number of places and townships in the U.S. of A. that are named "Cranberry" or some variation of the name (e.g., Cranbury, New Jersey)

20 is the number of places in the United States named Plymouth, as in "Plymouth Rock," legendary location of the first Thanksgiving.Plymouth, Minnesota is the most populous, with 65,894 residents in 2000. Plymouth, Massachusetts had 51,701.

 

13.7 pounds is the amount of turkey consumed by the typical American in 2003 -- no doubt a good bit of it at Thanksgiving time. Per capita turkey consumption was virtually the same as in 1990 (13.8 pounds), but 68 percent higher than in 1980 (8.1 pounds).

256 million is the preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2005. That’s down 3 percent from 2004. The turkeys produced in 2004 weighed 7.3 billion pounds altogether and were valued at $3.1 billion. And that's a lot of turkey.

44.5 million is the estimate of the number of turkeys Minnesota expects to raise in 2005. The Gopher State is tops in turkey production. It is followed by North Carolina (36.0 million), Arkansas (29.0 million), Virginia (21.0 million), Missouri (20.5 million) and California (15.1 million). These six states together will probably account for about 65 percent of U. S. turkeys produced in 2005.

649 million pounds is the forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2005, up 5 percent from 2004. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 367 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (170 million). Oregon, New Jersey and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 18 million to 52 million pounds.

1.6 billion pounds is the total weight of sweet potatoes — another popular Thanksgiving side dish — produced in the United States in 2004. North Carolina (688 million pounds) produced more sweet potatoes than any other state. It was followed by California (339 million pounds). Mississippi and Louisiana also produced large amounts: at least 200 million pounds each.

457 million pounds is the record held by Illinois for total U.S. pumpkin production — followed by California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York which produced at least 70 million pounds worth.

$5.2 million is the value of U.S. imports of live turkeys during the first half of 2005 -- all from Canada. Our northern neighbors also accounted for all of the cranberries the United States imported ($2.2 million).