July 31-August 1 – 139th Annual Fancy Farm Picnic
The last Friday in August marks the beginning of the 139th Annual Fancy Farm Picnic with the 28th annual fun run and 5k.
In Kentucky, politicians go where the people are—and with good reason. Folklore has it that anyone in Kentucky politics who doesn’t speak at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic doesn’t get elected.
“I’m not sure whether most politicians believe this is true, but a lot of them show up anyway,” says Bob Spalding, the event’s chairman and director for the last 24 years.
Some 15,000 people, including dozens of candidates with a taste for savory barbecue and an even greater appetite for votes, attend the politically charged event—the unofficial kickoff of fall campaigning in Kentucky politics.
Spalding describes the Fancy Farm Picnic as a forum for “back-home” politics, a homecoming for former residents, and a destination for those who love barbecue, good company, and outdoor fun. Admission is free, and $7 buys all the barbecue and extras you can eat ($3.50 if you’re 12 or under).
This year, the Fancy Farm community (pop. 900), so named by its founders in 1843 for its many elegant farms, will barbecue about 18,000 pounds of pork and mutton. That’s roughly 3,000 pounds more than in 1984 when Fancy Farm set a Guinness World Record for the largest one-day picnic and barbecue.
The picnic, held on the first Saturday in August, began before the Civil War as a gathering among families after tobacco crops were harvested. It was suspended during the war and resumed in 1880. Over time, the picnic gained popularity—especially among Kentucky politicians who saw it as a prime opportunity to “stump” for votes (originally, to speak from the high ground of a tree stump).
For more information please visit: www.fancyfarm.net
