Bring Back The Tennessean’s MASSIVE Thanksgiving Day Newspaper!

It’s Time to Bring Back a Nashville Thanksgiving Tradition!

For decades, Thanksgiving morning in Middle Tennessee meant more than turkey, family gatherings, and football. It meant waking up, heading outside, and picking up that enormous, overflowing Thanksgiving Day edition of The Tennessean.

It wasn’t just a newspaper. It was a tradition.

Families gathered around the kitchen table, flipping through hundreds of pages of Black Friday advertisements, holiday shopping deals, store circulars, and Thanksgiving features. Kids circled Christmas presents they hoped to find under the tree. Parents planned their Black Friday shopping routes. Families compared deals, made shopping lists, and enjoyed the excitement of the holiday season officially beginning.

And then, that tradition disappeared.

The massive Thanksgiving editions that so many Middle Tennessee families looked forward to became smaller and smaller. By 2020, the enormous holiday newspaper we remembered was gone, and the experience has never truly returned.

We understand that times have changed. More people shop online, retailers advertise digitally, and the newspaper industry faces challenges it didn’t face decades ago.

But not every tradition needs to disappear simply because the world has gone digital.

There’s something special about holding that thick Thanksgiving newspaper in your hands. Something nostalgic about spreading the advertisements across the living room floor, circling the best deals, and sharing the excitement with your family.

A website, an app, or a digital advertisement simply cannot replace that experience.

What We’re Asking The Tennessean to Do

We are calling on The Tennessean and its parent company, Gannett, to bring back the massive Thanksgiving Day newspaper that Nashville and Middle Tennessee families once loved.

We ask that they:

Restore the oversized Thanksgiving Day edition, packed with Black Friday advertisements, holiday shopping circulars, special features, and seasonal content.
Partner with local and national retailers to bring back the printed Black Friday advertisements that made the edition so popular.
Offer a special Thanksgiving print edition, available through home delivery and retail locations, even if it requires a separate purchase or preorder.
Listen to longtime readers who still value the traditions and experiences that made newspapers an important part of their communities.
We’re not asking for newspapers to abandon the digital age. We’re asking them to recognize that some experiences are worth preserving.

Nashville Deserves Its Thanksgiving Tradition Back!

For many of us, that giant newspaper was one of the first signs that Christmas was right around the corner. It brought families together, created memories, and made Thanksgiving morning feel special.

And for a new generation of families, it’s a tradition worth introducing.

We want the newspaper so thick it barely fits in the mailbox. We want the stacks of Black Friday ads. We want the excitement of flipping through page after page. We want our Thanksgiving morning tradition back!

To The Tennessean and Gannett: There are still people who love print newspapers, still families who cherish this tradition, and still readers who would gladly purchase a special oversized Thanksgiving edition.

Bring back the BIG Thanksgiving paper!

If you remember the excitement of opening that massive Thanksgiving edition of The Tennessean, sign this petition.

Share it with your family, friends, neighbors, and anyone who grew up looking forward to this Nashville tradition.

Let’s show The Tennessean that Middle Tennessee hasn’t forgotten — and that we want our Thanksgiving newspaper back!

SIGN. SHARE. BRING BACK THE TRADITION!