Thanksgiving is a time for travel, family, sharing stories, arguing about politics and eating. Lots of eating. WFPL spoke with Louisville residents downtown at in the Highlands about their Thanksgiving plans, and why the holiday is important to them. Here's what they said.
Patrick Burke's favorite thing about Thanksgiving is seeing family.
"[My favorite thing is] seeing family you might not have seen for a while. And, definitely, you've got to have that good food," Burke said.
For Jaime Rakestrow, it is a certain type of food.
"Mashed potatoes — it's my favorite food," Rakestrow said. "I just love mashed potatoes."
Some residents expect Thanksgiving will be spent on conversations around the dinner table.
Brittany Douglas said her family's conversations will center around their lives and remembering this year.
"We've had a lot of birthdays, a lot of celebrations we've just had," Douglas said. "Probably just life in general."
Marvin Lewis Jr. said his family will talk about anything and everything.
"It could be a love life that you're going through. It could be God. It could be whatever, but we're going to make the best out of it," Lewis said. "That's really what's important. I don' think you have to take a day out of your life to recognize it — it's something you should do all the time."
Asked what Thanksgiving means to them, all five residents' answers involved family. Michel Atlas said that value became especially important after one Thanksgiving when Atlas was young. Her mother's cousin died that day.
"She flew to Boston to be there, and my father was working and I was all alone that day. I vowed, 'never again,'" Atlas said. "So it's always very important that I'm with people — the people that are important to me."
