We hear that many people in Wellesley have been getting their Thanksgiving turkeys for years from Owen’s Poultry Farm in Needham, but that’s going to change this year.
The 80-year-old farm is not selling turkeys this year, according to the Needham Times, and in fact, the property and associated fixings have been sold for $7M to the town, which will build a school there.
According to the Boston Globe report:
[Owner] Douglas Owen said developers offered $2 million more than the town — which has the right to match any private offer on land that receives an agricultural tax break — but he was not interested in a bidding war.
The community is grateful, said Maurice Handel, Board of Selectmen chairman, but even for town officials the sale is bittersweet. Like many people in Needham, he has purchased his turkey there every Thanksgiving since he moved to town.
Needham’s Volante Farms will be one alternative source of farm fresh bird.
So things will definitely be different around Wellesley this Thanksgiving Day, where the local football team will also fly the coop and play its rivalry game vs. Needham at Fenway Park.
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