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Thanksgiving in Oklahoma City: Turkey Trots, Meals and Lights

Date Published

Illustration of thanksgiving in Oklahoma City with a downtown turkey trot, holiday lights and a shared meal

At a glance

  • Where: Mostly downtown Oklahoma City, plus the Horizons District and Film Row
  • Main morning event: OKC Turkey Trot, usually Thanksgiving morning, start and finish at NW 5th Street and Harvey Avenue
  • Parade: We found no official Thanksgiving Day parade in Oklahoma City; the Holiday River Parade at RIVERSPORT is a separate November event
  • Closed on the day: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, First Americans Museum, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum (outdoor memorial stays open)
  • Best advice: Book meals and race registration early and check each official site before you go

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma City starts with the downtown OKC Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, continues with take-home or buffet meals from local kitchens, and rolls into holiday lights and ice skating that weekend. There is no official Thanksgiving Day parade that we could confirm, so the run is the city's real morning tradition.

This guide groups the plan by when things happen: Thursday morning, the meal, then the long weekend. It also covers volunteering and what shuts down on the day. Everything below is described as the usual yearly pattern, and exact dates sit in one section near the end.

Is there a Thanksgiving parade in Oklahoma City?

No official Thanksgiving Day parade turned up when we checked. The closest official tradition is the Holiday River Parade on the Oklahoma River, run by RIVERSPORT in the Boathouse District, which has been held on a mid-November Saturday evening rather than on Thanksgiving itself. Check the RIVERSPORT Oklahoma City news page for its date. If you want a parade-sized crowd on Thursday, the Turkey Trot is it.

The Boathouse District sits on the river within walking distance of Bricktown. See our Boathouse District page for the neighborhood.

Thursday morning: where do you run or walk?

The OKC Turkey Trot in downtown Oklahoma City is the main Thanksgiving morning event, with a 5K, a 1-mile run and a Kids' Race.

1. OKC Turkey Trot, Downtown

The start and finish line is at NW 5th Street and North Harvey Avenue, and Harvey is closed between 4th and 6th streets for the event. It is usually held on Thanksgiving morning. The official race page lists registration through its Register Now link, a packet pickup at Red Coyote Classen in the days before, and downtown pickup on race morning. Race-day registration is not mentioned, so sign up ahead. Start times vary by year, so confirm them on the official OKC Turkey Trot site.

The route runs near the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum at 620 N. Harvey Avenue, and its Outdoor Symbolic Memorial stays open around the clock even on Thanksgiving, when the museum itself is closed, so a pre-race walk past the memorial grounds is a quiet way to start the day. Our Downtown page has more on the neighborhood.

One note on the suburbs: the Edmond Turkey Trot is a separate race in Edmond, which is its own city and not inside Oklahoma City limits, so we left it out of the picks.

The meal: where do you eat Thanksgiving dinner?

Two Oklahoma City kitchens confirm Thanksgiving food on their own sites: OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark in the Horizons District and The Jones Assembly on Film Row.

2. OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark, Horizons District

OKANA at 639 First Americans Blvd. offers a take-home Thanksgiving bundle from its Smokehouse Social kitchen. You build the order by phone, choosing from smoked or fried turkey, glazed ham, smoked sausage stuffing, baked mac and cheese, green beans with onions and bacon, BBQ baked beans, deviled potato salad, deviled eggs and pumpkin pie, then pick it up on Thanksgiving morning. Orders close a few days before the holiday, so call early. The resort also lists a Thanksgiving Day Grand Buffet with timed seatings. Prices and serving sizes were not stated on the pages we read, so check the OKANA Thanksgiving page. The Horizons District page covers the area.

3. The Jones Assembly, Film Row

The Jones Assembly at 901 W. Sheridan Ave. in West Village & Film Row posts a notice on its homepage that it is taking Thanksgiving orders, with an online ordering link and an order-by date. The page does not say whether the order is dine-in or take-home, and it does not state serving sizes or prices, so read the details on the official Jones Assembly site before ordering. Our West Village & Film Row page has the neighborhood background.

A local tip: restaurant take-home deadlines usually land the weekend before Thanksgiving. Order the week before, not the week of.

The long weekend: what opens the holiday season?

Holiday lights and ice skating in downtown Oklahoma City and the Horizons District typically fill the days around Thanksgiving, and Thursday itself is often a regular evening for them.

4. Devon Ice Rink, Myriad Botanical Gardens

The Devon Ice Rink at 301 W. Reno Ave. in Myriad Botanical Gardens is the seasonal rink in the middle of downtown. The official page shows a season that opens in mid-November, weather permitting, and lists special Thanksgiving week hours. Admission is ticketed, with a lower rate if you bring your own skates. See the Myriad Botanical Gardens rink page for current hours and prices.

5. SPARKLE Holiday Walk, Scissortail Park

Scissortail Park at 300 OKC Blvd. runs the SPARKLE Holiday Walk, a ticketed evening light walk that typically starts the week before Thanksgiving and includes Thanksgiving night. The park also lists free SPARKLE Holiday Markets on a Saturday after the holiday. Details are on the Scissortail Park SPARKLE page.

6. Safari Lights, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden

The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden at 2000 Remington Pl. in the Adventure District runs Safari Lights, its holiday light event, on evenings from mid-November into early January. The zoo's page did not state a Thanksgiving Day policy, so call or check the Oklahoma City Zoo site before you plan around that night.

7. OKANA Holiday Village and Tree Lighting, Horizons District

OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark at 639 First Americans Blvd. lists a Holiday Village and tree lighting, with an ice skating rink, on the Saturday evening after Thanksgiving. The resort's page did not list skating hours, fees or whether entry is free, so check OKANA Resort first.

Here is the thing most visitors miss: the Bricktown Christmas Tree, lit at the Downtown OKC Tree Lighting Festival at Mickey Mantle Plaza, stays lit through New Year's Day. The festival itself is typically held before Thanksgiving, so you can still see the tree during the holiday weekend. More on Bricktown is on its area page.

How can you volunteer on Thanksgiving?

The City Rescue Mission, the Homeless Alliance and The Salvation Army all list ways to help through their official sites, though shifts fill quickly and most require advance sign-up.

8. City Rescue Mission, near downtown

City Rescue Mission at 800 W. California Ave. says on its volunteer page that Thanksgiving and Christmas serving opportunities are posted on its Volunteer Calendar. You register as a volunteer, then pick a slot, and registration closes one to two days before each event, so there is no same-day sign-up. Children can come with an adult. Groups can email the address on the City Rescue Mission volunteer page.

9. Homeless Alliance, WestTown

The Homeless Alliance at 1724 NW 4th St. lists a shift sign-up through its volunteer portal and an email for groups that want to provide a meal for shelter guests. Its site does not post a Thanksgiving meal date, so start at homelessalliance.org.

10. The Salvation Army Central Oklahoma

The Salvation Army Central Oklahoma's Oklahoma County location at 1001 N. Pennsylvania Ave. lists a free community hot meal each day at 4:30 p.m. Its page does not mention Thanksgiving specifics or give sign-up steps, so call 405-246-1060 to ask about volunteering. The Salvation Army Central Oklahoma food services page has the details.

What is open and closed on Thanksgiving Day?

Four of Oklahoma City's major museums close on Thanksgiving, though the outdoor memorial downtown never closes, and transit service is not confirmed on official pages.

  • The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum at 1700 NE 63rd St. lists Thanksgiving as a closed day.
  • The First Americans Museum at 659 First Americans Blvd. lists Thanksgiving among its holiday closures.
  • The Oklahoma City Museum of Art at 415 Couch Drive lists Thanksgiving among its major holiday closures.
  • The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum at 620 N. Harvey Avenue lists Thanksgiving Day as a museum closure, but its Outdoor Symbolic Memorial is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  • EMBARK, the city's bus and OKC Streetcar agency, did not post Thanksgiving service on the pages we checked. Check EMBARK or call 405-235-7433 before you rely on a bus or the streetcar.

The outdoor events above, the Turkey Trot, the lights and the rink, are your best bets on the day itself.

This year's dates

From official sites as of November 2026. Confirm everything before you go.

  • Turkey Trot: Thursday, November 26, 2026. Registering by Sunday, November 15 avoids a price increase. Packet pickup is Tuesday and Wednesday before the race.
  • OKANA take-home meal: order by November 20 for pickup on Thanksgiving morning. The Grand Buffet is Thursday, November 26.
  • The Jones Assembly: Thanksgiving order-by date is Sunday, November 22.
  • Devon Ice Rink: season listed November 13, 2026 to January 31, 2027, weather permitting. Thanksgiving Day hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
  • SPARKLE Holiday Walk: Thursdays to Sundays from November 19 to December 13, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., with a free market on Saturday, November 28.
  • Safari Lights: November 14, 2026 to January 3, 2027, nightly 5:30 to 11 p.m.
  • OKANA Holiday Village and Tree Lighting: Saturday, November 28, 5 to 9 p.m.
  • Downtown OKC Tree Lighting Festival: Thursday, November 12, 2026, which is before the holiday.

How we chose

We kept only places inside Oklahoma City whose own official sites or event pages confirmed the offer. We dropped places we could not confirm, such as restaurants whose pages said nothing about Thanksgiving, and suburban races outside the city limits. Details like prices and hours change, so we give them only where the official site states them.

Save this: a Thanksgiving week checklist

  1. Register for the OKC Turkey Trot before the price rises.
  2. Order your take-home meal at OKANA or The Jones Assembly the weekend before.
  3. Sign up early to volunteer at City Rescue Mission or the Homeless Alliance.
  4. Plan Thursday around closed museums, and call about transit.
  5. Save the weekend for the Devon Ice Rink, SPARKLE and Safari Lights.

See also what is on in the city this weekend on our events page, and check the weather before any outdoor plan.

Last verified: November 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Thanksgiving parade in Oklahoma City?

We found no official Thanksgiving Day parade in Oklahoma City. The closest official tradition is the Holiday River Parade on the Oklahoma River, held in November by RIVERSPORT, so check its site for the date.

Where is the Oklahoma City Turkey Trot?

The OKC Turkey Trot starts and finishes at NW 5th Street and North Harvey Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City. It usually takes place on Thanksgiving morning, and the official site lists a 5K, a 1-mile run and a Kids' Race.

Where can I get a Thanksgiving meal to go in Oklahoma City?

OKANA Resort & Indoor Waterpark in the Horizons District sells a build-your-own take-home Thanksgiving bundle from Smokehouse Social. The Jones Assembly on Film Row also takes Thanksgiving orders. Check each official site for deadlines, serving sizes and prices.

Are Oklahoma City museums open on Thanksgiving?

Mostly no. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, the First Americans Museum, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum all list Thanksgiving as a closed day, though the Outdoor Symbolic Memorial in downtown Oklahoma City is open 24 hours a day, every day.

How can I volunteer in Oklahoma City at Thanksgiving?

City Rescue Mission posts holiday serving shifts on its Volunteer Calendar, and the Homeless Alliance uses an online shift sign-up. Register in advance, since most sign-ups close a day or two before each event.