SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Christopher Dailey Foundation Turkey Trot returns this Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, for the 21st annual running of the 5K.
The 5K will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, with the run starting on Broadway near the Saratoga Springs City Hall. Registration for the event costs $29, and online registration must be completed by Nov. 22.
Participants can still register in person from 4 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 23 at the Saratoga Hilton Hotel, where the Dailey Foundation will be holding packet pick-up for runners. Packet pick-up will also run from 6 to 8 a.m. on the day of the race. Day-of registration is not available for the 5K.
The first Turkey Trot was held in 2002, in memory of eight-year-old Christopher Dailey, who passed away in 2001. Laura Rose Dailey, a board member of the Dailey Foundation and Christopher’s sister, said the Foundation held its first fundraiser in May 2002, a golf tournament, before starting the Turkey Trot that fall.
The initial Turkey Trot took place in the Dailey’s neighborhood, and saw roughly 300 people in attendance, Dailey said. Every year since, the Trot has been held in downtown Saratoga, with this year’s route beginning on Broadway, looping through the Skidmore College campus, and finishing on North Broadway.
Dailey said roughly 3,000 to 4,000 people attend the Turkey Trot each year, which acts as a fundraiser for the Christopher Dailey Foundation, using the funds to help the Saratoga community.
“Our original goal and mission for the first few years of the foundation was to build a gym at Gavin Park, where he spent a lot of time, I spent a lot of time,” said Dailey. “It was around the corner from where we lived.”
The Christopher Dailey Memorial Youth Gymnasium opened at Gavin Park in 2006, and in the years since, the Foundation has used fundraising efforts to give even more back to the community.
“In the past, I’d say five or six years, we’ve transitioned to more just basic economic needs,” Dailey said. “My mom works really closely with the Franklin Community Center for clothes and jackets, shoes. We work really closely with sending kids home with food for the weekend.”
The Turkey Trot has grown so much that people “from all over the country” will show up on Thanksgiving morning by way of local family members, Dailey said.
“A ton of people whose families come from out of town will do the race, so we’ll have people from all over the country that do it, which also feels pretty cool,” said Dailey.
“Now, in the past couple years, we’ve been getting messages like, ‘I was at this vintage store in North Carolina and I saw a Christopher Dailey Turkey Trot shirt.’ That’s also been kind of cool, to see the way that those float around.”
Dailey said that she, along with her brother Brendan, are preparing to take over control of the Christopher Dailey Foundation’s board as their parents, Mark and Maria, transition out of the roles.
“My brother and I are going to start kind of taking it over,” said Dailey. “Him and I joined the board in January of last year, and we are adding a few board members of our own, with the intention of, in 2024, just being him and I and our board members.”
And Dailey noted that the opportunity to help the community while remembering Christopher is a special one.
“For me, Chris was 8 when he died and I was 12. To still be able to have everyone remember him every year, I just think it’s so rad,” said Dailey. “And to do it in the name of giving back to the Saratoga community, I just feel really lucky and blessed for that.”
