All of us at the Boone County Convention & Visitors Bureau hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday spent with family and friends.

I would like to share with you this year’s Thanksgiving story that will live on in our family lore for generations to come. Every year we host our family Thanksgiving meal, with anywhere from 15 to 20 coming for the feast. This year we would be baking a 25lb turkey, a 12lb turkey breast and deep-frying another 12 pound bird. Each of these turkeys came from a turkey farm in the Thorntown area.

Early Thursday morning, while in the midst of prepping the turkey breast and 25 pounder for baking, we received a call that 4 guests wouldn’t be coming due to travel problems. My wife and I decided with this reduced dinner list, we’d only bake the big turkey and freeze the turkey breast. We turned off one oven, popped in the big turkey and went about readying our home for guests.

Dinner also included beautiful pumpkin and Dutch apple pies from My Sugar Pie bakers in Zionsville, our green beans and corn for the casseroles had been flash frozen from a late summer country market in Lebanon. Even our rolls came from Sunshine Bakery, right here in Boone County.

At 2pm (4 hours before guests were to arrive), our daughter mentioned she wasn’t smelling the turkey as much as in past years. My wife and I froze in a stare and rushed to the kitchen. You guessed it…the big turkey oven wasn’t on. The lower oven (for the now frozen breast) was on.

We ran and got the slightly frozen turkey breast, defrosted it, seasoned it and popped it into the well-heated oven, hoping it would bake completely in 3 1/2 hours. The big turkey we turned on, knowing it’d be 7 hours before done.

The turkey breast came out perfectly and right on time. Our family & friends (12 showed up) had plenty of great food and we enjoyed the evening…all the way up to when we realized we would have a 25lb fully cooked turkey on our hands around 9:30pm. And who wants to carve a huge turkey like that after already eating so much Thanksgiving dinner?

That’s when my wife suggested I call the Zionsville Fire Department to see if the late shift had enough Thanksgiving food for their evening. After holding back the laughs upon hearing our story, the dispatch officer kindly suggested we take the turkey to the new Union Township ZFD station on US 421.

We packed up the complete turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, a delicious pumpkin pie and dinner rolls and delivered the feast to the very thankful and proud members of ZFD Union Township station.

What a great Boone County Thanksgiving it was. We had a great gathering who enjoyed the bounty of food our Boone County provides and then were able to share the joy of the holiday with those who serve us all year long – our brave firefighters.

Just yesterday my wife looked at me and said, “You know we now have a new tradition for Thanksgiving. From now on we’ll always be baking an extra turkey for the Union Township fire station’s late shift.” And so we will.

I hope your Thanksgiving was a good one as well.

This past Saturday, the Zionsville  American Legion Post 79 hosted Brigadier General J. Stewart Goodwin, Commander of the Indiana Air National Guard and the Air Component Commander of the Indiana National Guard Joint Forces, for a flag ceremony commemorating Veteran’s Day.

After being escorted to the Post by the Zionsville police and fire departments along with 40 gleaming motorcyles ridden proudly by the American Legion Riders, we gathered to hear General Goodwin’s address on a sunny late Fall morning. Standing beside the General, members of the Zionsville Fire Department unfurled and hung a huge American flag from the top of two fire ladder trucks. The Zionsville Police Department introduced their impressive Honor Guard who stood at attention in front of the massive Stars and Stripes.

General Goodwin spoke about Indiana’s proud history of Hoosier service men and women who have volunteered to protect our freedom, dating back to the Civil War when Indiana had the 2nd largest percentage of population members. 3 out of every 4 able bodied man fought for the Union in the Civil War.

Did you know Indianapolis has the 2nd largest number of monuments and total land devoted to commemorating those brave service men and women who’ve paid the ultimate price for freedom? Second only to Washington, DC.

Even today more Hoosiers enlist in the armed services per capita than any other state. And Indiana, the 14th largest state, has the 4th largest National Guard in the US.  When duty calls and freedom is challenged, no state steps up more often than Indiana.

General Goodwin spoke about how much our current service men and women appreciate being thanked for serving our country. He also encouraged military veterans to chronicle their experiences while in the service, to be shared with their loved ones today and generations to come.

You could tell the General’s talk had an uplifting impact on the gathered veterans, who stood at attention during the WWI airplane fly-over and military gun salute – each one no doubt deep in their own memories.

I came away imbued with a even greater appreciation and respect for our service men and women on this day, especially after hearing General Goodwin’s last words. “Do you know what we Generals pray for every day?”, he asked the crowd, “We pray for peace.”

November 11th is Veteran’s Day. I’m taking the General’s advice and will be thanking every service man and woman I come in contact with at airports, hotels, etc. from this day on. You might consider doing the same.