The 52nd annual Millersville Turkey Trot will take place on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 28. The holiday event will be held at Biemesderfer Stadium, 45 Pucillo Drive, Millersville, and registration will be available on the day of the race. Advance registration is available at http://www.millersvilleturkeytrot.com until Wednesday, Nov. 27.

The Turkey Trot will kick off with kids' fun runs at 8:40 a.m., which will include a 100-meter dash, a quarter-mile race and a half-mile run. Parents and legal guardians are invited to participate in the races alongside their children. Registration for the children's races is free, and registrants will have the option of purchasing a T-shirt when they sign up.

A 5K race will begin at 9 a.m., and competitive runners, casual walkers and everyone in between are invited to participate. Registration may be completed for a fee, and it will include an entry in various prize drawings that will take place after the race. Prizes will include items that have been donated by local businesses such as gift cards to restaurants and tickets to experiences and events in the community. Recipients must be present to receive their prizes after the race.

Several small changes have been made to this year's event to better accommodate participants. The start and finish lines will be slightly adjusted to space them out more efficiently. Participants will also be arranged to place faster, competitive runners at the front and walkers in the back of the group. In previous years, walkers lined up first, making it difficult for faster racers to progress. Additionally, runners will not be allowed to bring their dogs to this year's Turkey Trot due to recent issues with pets' leashes becoming tangled and dogs becoming too excited around other animals. This year's race will also have portable toilets stationed at the stadium for the first time.

"We have a lot of people who like to walk or run before heading off to Thanksgiving dinner," said Tom Ecker, organizer of the Millersville Turkey Trot. "Some people dress up for the race, and it's really about having fun."

The first Millersville Turkey Trot was held on the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving in 1973. The event featured a 10-mile run on Route 999, and it quickly became popular due to the national interest in cross-country at the time. A runner from the United States had recently won the Olympic marathon, inspiring more than 1,000 runners to participate in the first Turkey Trot. Prior to the Turkey Trot, local runners often traveled to other cities and states to compete in long-distance races. The national interest in long races gradually declined in the '70s, prompting the Turkey Trot to change its 10-mile run to a 5K race. Although fewer people attended the event, the Turkey Trot continued to take place every year. In 2012, the day of the race was moved to Thanksgiving morning, and the yearly tradition began to grow in popularity. Over the last decade, more than 2,000 runners have participated in the event each year.

About 10 years ago, the Turkey Trot's organizers decided to turn the race into a benefit event to support local nonprofits. This year, attendees are encouraged to bring nonperishable goods to support Loft Community Partnership's food bank in Millersville. "We decided it fits with the Thanksgiving theme and it's important to the community, so we wanted to embrace that opportunity," Ecker said.

For more information, email millersvillett@comcast.net.