It’s the least wonderful time … to be a turkey. Unless you’re one of the paper turkeys fortunate enough to get dolled up by Enquirer readers for our annual Dress the Turkey competition (presented by Cincinnati Art Museum).
Every year we do this, our readers give an unapologetic reflection of the goods and bads of the year here locally and nationally. We received tip-top artwork from Cincinnatians ages 2 to 95 – touching on just about every corner of 2025 culture.
In local news: An ironworker turkey gave thanks for fixing the Big Mac bridge while another featured a tribute to Camp Washington Chili owner Johnny Johnson, who died this October. There’s even a retro look at the heyday of now-defunct and crumbling Forest Fair Mall.
Movies and TV: “K-Pop Demon Hunters” and “Wicked” birds were most popular, but we also have an “Inaugural WKRP Turkey Drop Over Fountain Square” (a real work of art) and a super-fan nod to Luke’s from “Gilmore Girls.” A Union Terminal turned Hall of Justice features four superheroes uniting.
Celebrities: Yes, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were well-represented. A Kendrick Lamar turkey was dressed to match his human counterpart’s Super Bowl halftime performance. We even got a handful of new-Pope birds and loving tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, happy-trees Bob Ross, Charlie Kirk and Ace Frehley from KISS.
Sports: There were lots of Joe Burrow turkeys with hurt toes, FC Cincinnati game-winners and a Trey Hendrickson bird saying “My back hurts” while thinking about turkey money. We also received an Elly De La Cruz turkey sporting cool sunglasses and a rained-out Bristol baseball game bird.
Food: Skyline Chili featured heavily this year with worker birds, hungry birds and a nod to the Graeter’s/Skyline collab ice cream. A personal favorite was the sushi chef saying, “Instead of turkey, how about sushi? Please.”
Pop culture trends: Lord help us, we got an extra helping of 6-7 birds and we still don’t know what that means. We even got a “Skibidi Toilet” bird, which is also apparently a thing. And a big heaping helping of Labubu dolls, too.
Gobs and gobbles of turkeys later … check out our winners and runners up in each age category in the gallery at the top of the page. Or get lost in art for a few minutes with 80-plus of the best in the gallery at the middle of the page. See you next year, ya jive turkeys!
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC alum’s big engagement wins top prize in 2025 Dress the Turkey competition
Reporting by Rasputin Todd, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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