Take Plymouth National For Thanksgiving

I am not aware of a holiday more tied to a small town than Thanksgiving is to Plymouth. Only Bethlehem rivals it. Without Plymouth, the whole script is gone.

So why shouldn't Plymouth's Thanksgiving celebrations be televised nationally?

This question is more pressing when you consider that the two things most heavily associated with Thanksgiving beyond the giving-thanks dinners are parades and football.

Plymouth has both of those. They just get nothing beyond local exposure.

How can (and should) we change that?

One obstacle involves the parade and the football game being held on different days. Another is that people have dinners to prepare, travel to or both.

Why take on those difficulties? Let's imagine a best case scenario.

Thanksgiving day starts with a parade, televised nationally. It is routed so that it goes directly past Plymouth Rock and directly to Plymouth North High School. The parade itself will finish with a lap around the football field.

From there, Plymouth North and Plymouth South will play their Thanksgiving game. This game, like the parade, will also be televised nationally.

This brings prestige onto Plymouth. It brings tourists to Plymouth. While switching to this format may have costs, the event will eventually be a yearly cash cow. The broadcast would essentially be a Plymouth infomercial.

ESPN could televise both. There are several ESPNs who could handle this. They could show the parade on delay during halftime of the football game if time is an issue.

The parade could also be televised by a different network if ESPN wishes to stick to sports.

Plymouth's parade would be more Americana than the one in New friggin' York. The New York parade is merely a marketing plan by Macy's. The department store runs that parade to their store, to sort of kick off Christmas shopping season.

Ours, while also seeking a dollar, would be more true to the spirit of the actual Thanksgiving holiday... and remember, no city or town has a greater claim to Thanksgiving than Plymouth.

Plymouth's parade will be more small-time than Macy's. Plymouth will have no Led Zeppelin I sized Snoopy blimps. Mariah Carey or Katy Perry won't be singing at Plymouth Rock (although it couldn't hurt to ask them). We'd have to make up for this with small town charm.

The smaller parade will also be easier to televise, fitting rather snugly into a football halftime slot.

ESPN gets handed a ready-made tradition to broadcast, so America that apple pie would be reduced to a bit part. They could up the Americana with brief vignettes featuring Plymouth Rock, Plimoth Plantation, the Mayflower II and the Wampanoag people.

Plymouth gets exposure, revenue and town spirit.  They stake an incontrovertible claim to a holiday that they already should own.

Remember... without Plymouth, the Thanksgiving we know and love would be wildly different, if it even existed at all. When you think of Thanksgiving, you think of Plymouth. The rest of the world needs to recognize.

Someone should already be working on this.