Mystery solved: Pigeon drop was for race

It was an intriguing image – thousands of pigeons exploding from the back of a truck and circling the skies over Worthington. But who was releasing them and why? Now the Worthington Daily-Globe reveals: The Twin City Concourse pigeon racing club released nearly 1,500 pigeons on Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 at the Tru-Shine Truck Wash. It turns out Worthington is just a good drop point given its 150-mile distance from the Twin Cities.

Author:
Updated:: Mar 8, 2018
Original:: Sep 13, 2012

It was – earlier in the week, anyway – a fascinating riddle: Who drops thousands of live pigeons in Worthington, Minn.?

But there's a logical answer. It was the Twin City Concourse Association pigeon racing club that released nearly 1,500 pigeons on Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 at the Tru-Shine Truck Wash, raising the eyebrows of several employees, the Worthington Daily Globe reports.

The club uses Worthington as a drop spot about once every five years. The birds are hauled there in crates inside a club truck and released when the weather is clear, a club spokesman told the newspaper.

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An unidentified man has been dropping off truckloads of live pigeons at a truck wash in Worthington, according to its employees, the Worthington Daily Globe reports. In one release captured on a surveillance video, about 1,000 birds exploded from the truck trailer, and nearly as many were released last week.

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