05/10/2025
There is a rumor around town that When Pigs Fly will not be sponsoring our annual Day of Giving Back-Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner this year. That rumor is not true.
The truth is that we never make a final decision or commitment until November 1, and we are still mulling it over. We will decide and announce our final decision then.
But, 2025 is different and we are struggling with a conundrum. Forgive this long post, but this is, and has always been, a community event. So, we’ve decided to lay out the issues and seek community input on how to proceed.
This event started several years ago when we still had the free-standing restaurant. Kellen’s father had died, and we were looking for a way to express our gratitude for all the support our community has provided us, while honoring his memory. So we decided to take a leap of faith and open up our restaurant to anybody who wanted to join us for Thanksgiving Dinner, free of charge. We were scared we would lose our shirts, but did it anyway.
Then, something quite wonderful and unexpected happened. People started calling with offers of support. Food donations. Pledges to volunteer. It was quite amazing. In the end, we had tremendous support, and served around 200 people in our little 47 seat dining room that year.
Over time, it just grew. More people. More support. More guests. More space. The State Fair offered us space in the poultry barn, then later in the larger Underwood Building, and last year in the cavernous West Virginia Building. We just sort of watched the magic happen. In 2024, we helped as over 150 volunteers served close to 1000 guests.
Through the years, we insisted on only a few rules: Keep it simple. Everyone is welcome. No paperwork. No politics. It’s all about the fellowship and gratefulness.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been targeted by a rather nasty and vicious doxxing campaign. It’s part of a national movement in the wake of the terrible assassination of a prominent right-wing activist. But it’s been implemented with hate mail from mostly local people, some of whom we know personally, but most of whom we do not. It comes in the form of comments on our personal and business pages, direct messages, e- mail, and is shared elsewhere on social media.
The letters are all very similar, with only minor variations in wording and theme.
They all share the belief that, since Mike is such a stupid and evil man, it is the writer’s solemn responsibility to take the food off our family's table by convincing everybody who will listen not to buy anything from our business. All have pledged to spread the word so that their friends and neighbors don’t bring us any business, either.
Some messages contain thinly veiled threats. Most say our food is awful, although they have never eaten it.
Some have directly attacked our Thanksgiving Dinner for not allowing MAGA merch, because of our “no politics” rule.
Most of them, of course, are just sniveling cowards who think that anybody who sees things differently from themselves deserves a good screaming at. But, we are mindful that there are a few true loonies in every group who are just crazy enough to cross the line into violence.
We are not afraid of an economic boycott by people who have never spent a dime with us anyway. This is nothing but a minor annoyance for us. We take precautions and just keep doing what we do. But, it brings us to the point of our worry about the Thanksgiving event.
We are living in a highly toxic and, frankly, nasty time. Many of the miserable people running around are anxious to spread their misery on the rest of us, inflicting harm on their neighbors.
Will this hostility affect the Thanksgiving Dinner event? Would it put people at risk? Are we risking some sort of political fight or protest? Will people still donate and volunteer in times like these? Which way will the wind blow?
Having said that. We suspect that the need for food and fellowship, a smile and a kind word, is greater than ever this year.
So, we are asking for input from the community of volunteers and donors. What are your thoughts? Either reply here, or respond privately, as you are comfortable. We will consider every one as we are deciding.
This is not an open invitation to political opinions. There are plenty of other places for that. If you post ‘em here, we’ll delete them as we find them.
This is an invitation for input as to whether to try to do this celebration in 2025.
Mike and Kellen
