Anticipation

You know how you get really excited that Christmas is coming? Or maybe you get really excited the night before you go on vacation. It's all about the anticipation, right? Well, it's no different in Fancy Farm as we prepare to spend the weekend with 10,000 of our closest friends and relatives. We can't wait.

The St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic weekend starts bright and early tomorrow morning at 7AM. For those of you who don't live here or haven't made it to town yet, you're missing one of the best events of the whole weekend. At 7AM we come together, like the small town of Whoville, to give thanks, to praise, and to pray for the weekend that is upon us. We go to Mass. The Mass is held at the Bingo stand where a little more than 24 hours later people will come from all over the country, and some from all over the world, to try their luck at winning something, anything, at Bingo. And I'm sure sometime during the time that Bingo is played, from 10AM to 10PM there will be someone praying that they win that wagon or that new bike or those St. Louis Cardinals tickets.

We come together to do what we do as a community throughout the year and then some. Because we will begin the weekend with Mass, and then we have work to do. Of course, we will attempt to “buy off” Fr. Darrell's prayers straight to heaven that the rain or the humidity or the heat will hold off just for the time when we expect over 10,000 people to visit our humble village and spend a whole lot of money.

After Mass, we visit for a minute or two and then we are down the hill, down to the BBQ pits, where the semi truck full of sides of mutton and pork shoulders waits in anticipation for another tradition, the Blessing of the Meat. A lot of people say that the Picnic wouldn't be the same without the politicians but there are those out there who believe that the Picnic wouldn't be the Picnic without the 9500 pounds of pork and 9500 pounds of mutton. So we take the time to bless the meat and our efforts in getting it ready for all of those visitors. And if we have a good year we may be lucky enough to have served up all of that BBQ by the time dinner is finished being served at 7PM.

And then we go to work. The Carrico and Hobbs families have all of that meat to put on the pits. Everyone has to make sure that their booths are ready for the next day. Finishing touches will be put on the meat stand by the Elder family. The hamburger stand is ready in anticipation of the crowd that will hit the Picnic grounds on Friday night and Saturday morning. The Knights of Columbus have to get ready for the huge fish dinner they will serve on Friday night. And just because someone is not out on the Picnic grounds doesn't mean they're not getting things ready. There are pies to be baked and last minute dishes being readied for the dinner served beginning at 11AM Saturday morning.

But a lot of things are being done in anticipation of family coming to town. Earlier in the week families have travelled to Nashville to pick family members up at the airport. We don't know exactly when those who are driving will be in town, maybe it will be before the One Mile Classic but for sure before the 5K takes off. They are just as excited to get to town. Coming to town Picnic weekend is like coming home for Christmas. Cousins will be able to see each other. Classmates who haven't been home in a year will catch up with each other. Brothers and sisters who live as far away as New York or California make sure they are home for Picnic, as they have done for the last 30, 40 or 50 years. Friday is a time to catch up, make over each other and sit down and play cards to prove that you can still beat them in Pitch/Sell. But everyone knows they can't stay up too late because they have an early day in the morning.

And then it comes. At our house we hear the first car go up the road between 5:30 and 6AM. That's our cue to hop out of bed and get going. It would be nice if everyone had that ingrained alarm clock. But we have to bone out BBQ pork and mutton and there will be a line waiting when we get out there at 6AM. Those people in line know that the BBQ doesn't go on sale until 8AM. That doesn't matter. They want to be the first in line. If we started selling the BBQ at 6AM they would be in line at 4. It must be something about the excitement of getting meat right off the pit, the first meat. They want it good and hot. Most of them go home and have a sandwich for breakfast.

And that's what we do. We bone meat, chop meat, package meat and sell it until it's all gone. A good year for us is selling out about mid-afternoon. That's a bad year for those who wait to buy their BBQ. They miss out. Of course, we don't want everyone there first thing. But the BBQ keeps coming hot off the pit until it's all sold out so getting it at 8AM or 11AM isn't much difference, unless you believe otherwise.

The Picnic officially starts at 10AM. There will be those sitting up at the Bingo stand ready to start playing the minute the clock strikes 10. The funny thing is that there are some who never get up until the clock strikes 10, on the other side. I don't think I could sit that long. But they do, and I have, to some extent because I was bound and determined to win a cooler or a bicycle for a prize.

Dinner starts at 11. I cannot even fathom working in the kitchen or the dining room with the endless line of hungry people whose mouths start watering the minute they get out of their car because they can smell that BBQ all over town. And the thing about dinner is that it is “all you can eat”. I am here to tell you that you can eat quite a bit but when you consider the BBQ, the fried chicken, the corn (oh, the corn), the potato salad, the fresh sliced tomatoes, the beans (green, lima or black eyed peas), the slaw, the cucumbers and onions, you can't get it all on your plate. And once you have done that then there are the home made desserts. If anyone leaves the dining room hungry it's their own fault.

Don't forget to stop by the Country Store while you're up at the KC Hall. For a solid year the crafty people of Fancy Farm have been making items to sell in the Country Store. There are things for sale in there that you didn't even know that you needed. And if you've got a sweet tooth, and you get there early, there are some home-made bake sale items. If you haven't canned your pickles or jams for the year you can buy some of those too. And even if you choose not to buy one of the beautiful quilts that the ladies of Fancy Farm have made, you have got to go by there and take a look at the craftsmanship of those quilts. If you consider the number of hours and the material in those works of art you will realize that you can walk away with one of the best bargains around. They are a joy to behold. You can buy a chance on one that is raffled and if you're lucky enough they may call your name out at the end of the night to take it home with you.

Once back down on the Picnic grounds walk around and spend some money on the booths. The kids save their money to spend on Picnic day. If they're lucky they have an aunt or an uncle who give them money to spend. Most kids were raised around here to work a little extra around the farm or for a neighbor just to make sure they had Picnic money. There are all kinds of games and a great souvenir stand. It's always fun to see what the hot item at the toy booth is. The kids will be running around with their treasures and won't leave their parents alone for one minute until they have the hot item. Oh, and make sure you play the cane stand. Those canes are so popular with young and old alike. In fact, I think it's one of the only places that you can get a cane like that. I have spent many a dollar for one of my kids to win one and have to take it away from them 5 minutes later because they use them like swords and get into sword fights with their friends or cousins. The do come in handy though throughout the year in digging lost socks from behind the dryer. But there's a duck pond, a ping pong game, putt-putt, a bean toss. It's always fun to see if this is a year that they have the dish pitch. You throw a dime into a dish and if you get it in there you get to take that dish home. I always love it when I get all of this mis-matched dishware and the kids throw a fit if I don't want to use it.

And then there is the greatest anticipation of all, the political speaking. People watch the first Saturday of August for the entire year in anticipation of who are the serious candidates, what do they have to say, how will the crowd respond, and who's going to mess up. People come from all corners of the country, and sometimes the world for this part of the event. Many of those people don't have a clue that this is just a church picnic. Some of those people are sure that it's a political picnic. Some of those people just know that the event is held on a farm. They don't have a clue that they can have one of the best dinners they'll ever eat. All they know is that their politician, the one that they want to see win, will be there and needs their support. Some of these people travel in chartered busses. They get there in time for the speeches and usually leave not long afterwards. And I'm sure some of those people are so eaten up with politics that they don't see the picnic for what it is. But then there are some who travel down to one of the furthest corners in western Kentucky, year after year. They come to get a BBQ mutton sandwich, to play a little Bingo, to see if they can hob-knob with their favorite politician, and then to experience American politics at its best. Those are the people who get a seat early and make sure that every politician gets a piece of their mind. They are not shy about their opinion of what candidates from either party are saying. They want to make sure they are heard. And that, my friend, is what makes the Picnic at Fancy Farm so unique.

I tell people all the time that our Picnic just started as a get together. Most of the residents of Fancy Farm made their living as farmers. This time of the year was when they had all of their crops in the fields but hadn't started harvesting yet. They had some down time. So the members of St. Jerome Catholic Church had a potluck dinner. It was a time to relax and enjoy each others company. Then it turned into a homecoming of sorts. There came a time when children moved off to get a job in the big city. So once a year they would come home. The Picnic was a good time to do that because their brothers and sisters would be home or their cousins or classmates would come to town. Well, back then, when you had a get together like this, with a little bit of a crowd, the politicians would come too. They looked for opportunities to meet people and a little crowd would do it. But in 1880 was the first time that the public was invited out to Fancy Farm to join in with dinner and fellowship and some “gander pulling”.

I'd love to say that the Picnic grew and grew and grew. And it did. But I'd say it really started to build in the 1930's and 1940's. That's when Happy Chandler and Alben Barkley and others made sure they came to Fancy Farm right before the Kentucky primary. Happy Chandler was the one who made it known that if you wanted to win a state-wide office you had to come to Fancy Farm. Today there are some who discount that. That's fine. There are still many more who believe that it's a political necessity. And when the politicians come, the media comes. When the media comes the crowd comes. The bigger the crowd the more politicians. It's a never-ending cycle. Which is good. It was probably back in the 1980's, when the Picnic celebrated its 100th anniversary that we began to see the size crowds that we have today. And that is very good.

After the political speaking a lot of the crowd will disperse. Some of those people have a long ride ahead of them. The next wave of the crowd will come in. These are people from neighboring communities who come to have dinner, play a little Bingo and catch up with their friends. They might head back over to the Speaker's stand when the band starts playing and listen to them for awhile. This is when things begin to wind down. Of course, this is also the time when all of the workers are pretty worn out and really hot and ready for a break. Fortunately, this is also the time that a new crew of workers come in to take over the night time duties.

But then the Picnic does start to wind down. The anticipation of the raffle is huge. Every year a new vehicle is raffled off. For $5 you can win a brand new Jeep. Every young man and young woman is waiting with baited breath to see if it's their name that will be pulled out. Once the name is drawn there is great excitement and great rejection for those who didn't win. Sometimes the winner is there but most of the time the person needs to be called. Sometimes the crowd hangs around to wait on the winner to come and pick up the vehicle but most of the time the crowd leaves before that happens.

When we all get home and lay in bed, there is the anticipation of what happens on Sunday. We get out to the grounds early, clean up all of the trash and put everything back to normal. And once that is all done we end the weekend the way we started, with Mass.

We can't wait!