Turkey Day

Turkey Day
Appearance	Animal Crossing, Animal Forest e+, City Folk, New Leaf, New Horizons
Occurs	4th Thursday (22nd-28th) in November
Special character	Franklin
Music	Harvest Festival Theme

Turkey Day (named the Harvest Festival prior to New Horizons) happens once a year on Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November).

The event has changed across different generations of the Animal Crossing series on which it is available on. In the latest installment, New Horizons, the player's job is to collect the listed ingredients to create the four-course feast so that they can be given exclusive crafting recipes. The required ingredients change depending on the island's hemisphere.

Prior to New Leaf, the event features a feastful festival but with an ethical conundrum between Franklin the turkey and Tortimer over claims of violating turkey rights, and it's the player's job to gain the trust of Franklin while attempting to make Tortimer happy.

In New Leaf and New Horizons, however, Franklin becomes a special chef guest, and the player's job is to obtain sufficient ingredients to create an excellent four-course feast.

Events

Prior to New Leaf

Outside the Wishing Well in Animal Crossing, banquet tables will be set up which are decorated with plates filled with food and wine glasses which can't be interacted with (save Knife and Forks). In City Folk, the banquet tables are set up in front of the Town Hall.

During the Harvest Festival, Franklin the turkey makes an appearance, and when he is found for the first time he will explain that Tortimer had sent him a letter of invitation to be a special "guest" at the celebration, however Franklin notices that underneath the word guest, a faded, half-erased word reading "dish" can be seen. When Franklin meets Tortimer he soon understands the truth and flees the scene posthaste.

Franklin will hide behind obstacles (such as trees, houses, and signs) and after discussing his scheme, he will request and wait for the player to bring him pieces of silverware from the banquet. For each piece they bring, they will receive one piece of furniture from the Harvest Series, including the wallpaper and the matching carpet.

Villagers will often hint about Franklin's location.

Franklin is unusual among Animal Crossing residents and visitors in that he is entirely static; instead, Franklin will appear in his hiding place and will disappear soon after the player moves the camera out of view when he has been given a set of silverware, and can be noticed by some because the screen shutters, but it's barely noticeable.

While in one hiding place, Franklin will only accept one "knife and fork" set at a time, so if the player wishes to give him another they must move away from the hiding place until Franklin disappears, and search for him again.

In New Leaf

The completed Harvest Festival Feast in New Leaf.

When the player starts the game, Isabelle will announce that the Harvest Festival is today. Franklin the turkey will be waiting near the town tree, along with a big table with numerous kitchen objects. He asks the player if they want to help him fetch some ingredients for his courses. These include a salad, soup, main course and dessert. For these four courses the player will need to gather three ingredients and one secret ingredient. The player can find most of them by themselves, like fish, fruit, and mushrooms, but they will also need special things from the residents, like vinegar, flour etc. The player can only get these from the animals that are at home, provided that the player gives them what they want and need for their own cooking (most of the time it's fish). They will then also give the player hints and tips about cooking and the secret ingredient that goes well with a certain type of dish. Villagers will grant the player with any missing ingredients from the player's inventory. Deliver everything to Franklin and he will start cooking the meal. In return he will give the player Harvest furniture or a fruit basket. If the player gets all the four secret ingredients right, he will give them a cornucopia at the end.

Ingredients and Secret Ingredients

Note: The names of some dishes vary depending on what country the player is in.

Name	Alt Name	Ingredients	Secret Ingredient
Salads
Fish Salad		horse mackerel, red snapper, vinegar	Lemon
Fruit Salad		apple, orange, vinegar	Beehive
Mixed Salad		horse mackerel, skinny mushroom, apple	Vinegar
Mushroom Salad		flat mushroom, round mushroom, vinegar	Apple
Oyster Salad		oyster, seaweed, vinegar	Lemon
Soups
Fruit Soup		cherry, milk, peach	Lemon
Mushroom Bisque	Mushroom Stew	flat mushroom, milk, round mushroom	Butter
Shellfish Chowder	Shellfish Cream Soup	milk, clam, scallop	Butter
Bouillabaise	Soup de Poisson	olive flounder, red snapper, sea bass	Lemon
Tom Yum Kung	Tom Yoong Goong	lobster, skinny mushroom, vinegar	Coconut
Main Courses
Seared Barred Knifejaw	Barred Knifejaw Sauté	barred knifejaw, round mushroom, butter	Lemon
Pan-Fried Dab	Dab Meunière	dab, skinny mushroom, flour	Vinegar
Pan-Fried Olive Flounder	Olive Flounder Meunière	olive flounder, flat mushroom, flour	Vinegar
Pan-Fried Red Snapper	Red Snapper Poele	red snapper, skinny mushroom, flour	Lemon
Sautéed Sea Bass	Sea Bass Sauté	butter, sea bass, round mushroom	Lemon
Desserts
Apple Pie		apple, lemon, flour	Beehive
Banana Tart	Banana Custard Pie	banana, lemon, sugar	Beehive
Cherry Pie		flour, cherry, lemon	Beehive
Coconut Tart	Coconut Cream Pie	coconut, lemon, sugar	Beehive
Mixed-Fruit Pie	Full Fruit Pie	butter, orange, pear	Lemon

In New Horizons

The Harvest Festival, now known as Turkey Day, was added in the 1.6.0 Free Winter Update. On Turkey Day, a feast is set up in the Event Plaza from 9 AM to 12 AM. Franklin, the NPC in charge, will ask the player for help in gathering ingredients to assist him in preparing the feast. In return he will grant the player with four items that cannot be crafted.

Each of the dishes require specific ingredients to accompany it. In return this yields different items for each of the four dishes that are complete. Afterwards the player will have the option of giving Franklin a secret ingredient, after all the recipes are complete. Overall, the player will receive one of the three items inspired for Thanksgiving along with the rest of the DIYs.

Similar to New Leaf, players continue the exact process in gathering required ingredients from their villagers. Villagers can each provide information of a missing ingredient in exchange for a specific type of fish, to finish their cooking. Each of the villagers in their homes will be dressed in a chef's uniform, and when they receive their missing ingredient, they will join everyone else at the plaza. Unlike New Leaf, there are no ingredients that can only ever be gathered from villagers (such as vinegar), because all required ingredients can be gathered normally as usual.

Depending on the hemisphere of the island, the decorations and the required ingredients will vary. In the northern hemisphere, the leafy decorations are brown, whereas in the southern hemisphere they are green, corresponding to respective season. The color schemes of the tableware also correspond to the color of the leaves.

Ingredients and Secret Ingredients

Name	Ingredients	Secret Ingredient
Salads
Gratin:	North: Either a Mussel, a Potato or a Carrot Either a Flat Mushroom, Round Mushroom, Skinny Mushroom, or Oyster South: Mussel Either a Flat Mushroom, Round Mushroom, Skinny Mushroom, Squid, Sea Urchin (South)	Dungeness Crab
Soups
Clam Chowder:	3x manilla clam (North and South)	Scallop
Main Courses
Fish Meunière:	North: Sea Bass. Either a Dab, Olive Flounder, Red Snapper or Flour. South: Sea Bass. Either an Olive Flounder or Red Snapper.	Barred Knifejaw
Desserts
Pumpkin Pie	Orange Pumpkin. Either a Green, White, or Yellow Pumpkin. (North and South)	The two pumpkin colors not previously requested.

Gallery

Animal Crossing

The Harvest Festival announcement in Animal Crossing.

Franklin hiding behind a house in Animal Crossing.

Knife and Fork on the table at the Wishing Well in Animal Crossing.

Tortimer introducing himself in Animal Crossing.

Animal Forest e+

Harvest Festival in Animal Forest e+.

Franklin in Animal Forest e+.

City Folk

Franklin hiding behind a sign in City Folk.

New Leaf

Franklin introducing himself in New Leaf

Isabelle announcing the Harvest Festival

Successful harvest of ingredients

New Horizons

Turkey Day in the southern hemisphere

Trivia

• In New Leaf, during the Harvest Festival, no new projects or town ordinances can be started. Isabelle will suggest that the mayor takes the day off to enjoy the festivities.

“Oh! You wanted to work on official mayoral business today? But what about today's event? We can't sit here in this stuffy office building while the rest of the town is enjoying the festivities! It's not healthy to work so much, Mayor! Why don't you just take the day off instead?”
― Isabelle

• Likewise, the player is unable to work for Brewster at The Roost during the Harvest Festival.
• In New Horizons, the tableware for southern hemisphere players is colored green for spring, while in the northern hemisphere the tableware is colored orange for fall.