Here's Where IL Residents Are Going For Thanksgiving

ILLINOIS — Outlet malls. Art centers. Home improvement stores. Cellphone retailers. Breweries. If history is any indicator, these are just some of the places people across the country will be headed over the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

That’s according to a new analysis by Google Maps and Google News Lab, which published a new report this week titled “Mapping Thanksgiving.” The report looked at places people searched directions for over the holiday more often than at other times of the year.

Nationally, the most commonly searched-for location during the Thanksgiving holiday is a department store — a search that isn't particularly unique to Thanksgiving. More holiday-oriented searches popular over Thanksgiving nationwide are for tree farms, outlet malls and electronics stores.

IL Thanksgiving 2018 Travel Guide: Best, Worst Times To Travel

But what about search trends that are unique to each state?

The top place people in Illinois searched for over the holiday, interestingly enough, is boat rental places. In neighboring states, popular searches including golf courses, home improvement stores, plant nurseries, state government offices and stadiums.

Here’s a complete breakdown for Illinois:

Overall top searches

1. Boat rental services
2. Building material
3. Performing arts
4. Dessert shops
5. Fairgrounds

Wednesday

1. Building material
2. Dessert shops
3. Performing arts
4. Mattress stores
5. Markets

Thursday (Thanksgiving)

1. Boat rental services
2. Building materials
3. Places of worship
4. Performing arts
5. Fairgrounds

Friday (Black Friday)

1. Boat rental services
2. Performing arts
3. Hiking areas
4. Fairgrounds
5. Dessert shops

The most crowded destinations, nationwide, also follow holiday trends. On Wednesday, it's bakeries, as shoppers gather sweet treats for their Thanksgiving feasts, as well as liquor stores. Thursday, it's grocery stores, and on Friday, it's movie theaters and shopping centers.

Your turn. Where are you heading for Thanksgiving? Tell us in the comment section or on Facebook.

Across the country, people searched for places in various industries, including restaurants, entertainment, religious organizations and even schools.

The research seemed to show that people geared up for Christmas early — the top search term overall from Wednesday to Friday was outlet mall, and the No. 1 place on the actual holiday was tree farm. Other top places included scenic overlook, electronics store and video-game store.

Several states had some particularly interesting trending search terms.

The top trending search term in Arizona was car-stereo store. In Colorado, it was swimming pool. Folks in Mississippi and Montana, meanwhile, looked for coffee shops, while Vermonters searched for pizza places. Nevadans seemed to be looking for parking garages.

Search trends were represented as general categories, rather than exact terms. Trending categories were determined by comparing the total number of direction requests during the three-day holiday period to the total number of direction requests two weeks before and two weeks after Thanksgiving week.

The categories that saw the highest ratio increase during Thanksgiving week were considered top trending categories. Those categories were then compared to the national rate.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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