TAMAQUA, Pa. — For the past 10 years, Maria Scicchitano and her grandmother Millie have taken a photo outside Koch's Turkey Farm retail store tent near Tamaqua. It signifies another year of keeping up the family tradition.
"For my dad's store, for Ace Hardware, he always orders for his employees turkeys from here. So, every year for probably the past decade, we've been coming together; it's our tradition. We come the Tuesday before Thanksgiving picking up some turkeys, pick up our gravy and our cranberry sauce, and we go back to Hollywood Pizza in Mount Carmel for lunch," said Scicchitano, from Homer, New York.
They aren't the only ones who follow tradition. Husband and wife Darlene and Terry Gerberg come every year to pick up their holiday goodies.
"His sister actually works here, so it's like really were neighbors. The Kochs are just good friends, you know, longtime friends and neighbors," said Darlene Gerberg.
The retail store offers birds from 10 pounds up to 22 pounds.
If you don't want a whole bird, the shop has plenty of other offerings.
"Whole thighs, drums, wings, breast meat, giblets, to necks, everything you'd be looking for and the fixings, too," said Brandon Koch, vice president of live operations at Koch's Turkey Farm.
For many, the Thanksgiving holiday is about one thing.
"It's family, and you got to make sure that you make time for each other. You get to catch up every year, and it's what makes the holiday the holiday," said Scicchitano.
"We work with turkeys every day, but we still look forward to Thanksgiving. You know, we have a big family. We all get together at my grandmother's, Elizabeth, who started the company with my grandfather Lowell back in 1956. So yeah, it's a big family. We all get together and enjoy a turkey, too," said Koch.
If you happen to forget the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving meal, don't worry. Koch's retail store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday.