New turkey leads annual Bessborough School turkey march

The principal at Bessborough School in Moncton used the-less-is-more approach as he debuted a brand new turkey suit for the annual student march to the Sue Stultz Christmas Turkey Drive headquarters.

Instead of the mascot costume with full turkey head, which frightened some students in the kindergarten to Grade 8 School, Nick Mattatall wore a new costume that revealed his face.

"We have some kids who are afraid of mascot costumes," Mattatall said. "So this year we decided to design a new costume, so everybody felt comfortable going."

The new version comes with a partial head covering in red, a yellow beak, bright orange breast feathers and, of course, giant turkey feet.

"It is not as warm, so I'm glad it's not a cold day, but it's quite stylish I thought," said Mattatall.

Students Avery Dolan and Matthew Belliveau gave Mattatall's new look the thumbs up.

"That is awesome," Avery said.

"Yeah, I love seeing him in that," said Belliveau

Others, however, missed the old costume.

"The old one had a hat," said Matthew Zeigler. "It had a top hat which was cool."

Exceed turkey goal

Bessborough's 478 children, many with turkeys in their arms, marched down the road from their school to the St. George St. fire hall.

The kids brought in 265 turkeys, which exceeded their goal by 65.

"It's exciting for the kids because they know they are giving back to the community," said Mattatall.

He said his own son brought in 25 turkeys by asking for turkeys rather than presents for his birthday.

"It makes me proud of my kids, proud of my community, because I live in this community and these are my kids," he said. "These are my neighbours and I'm proud of them."

The Sue Stultz Turkey Drive goal for 2016 is 4,315 turkeys. By Thursday afternoon, 2,931 had been donated.