Fancy Farm, Kentucky is a community located in Graves County. It used to be an incorporated town but years ago it reverted to just being a community, governed by Graves County Fiscal Court. It’s not a real political place. There is one polling place. The people there vote like a lot of other people in the country, a lot Democratic, more and more Republican. In fact, if you didn’t know any better you wouldn’t think that Fancy Farm cared about politics one bit. You’d be wrong.
One weekend a year Fancy Farm, Kentucky turns into the mecca of Kentucky politics, and sometimes national politics. That weekend, the first weekend of August, is the annual St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic. That weekend people come from all over the state, and all over the country, and this year, all over the world, to eat barbecue, play a little bingo, and listen to those in elected office or running for elected office stump for that office or their candidate. We used to say where there was a crowd you would find a group of politicians meeting with those people. But anymore, where there is a crowd and where there are politicians you will find the media. And the media has really done its best to analyze what it is about Fancy Farm that is so special.
Well, personally, Fancy Farm is pretty special, picnic or not, politics or not. It’s a great little community where everyone knows each other and truly cares about each other. That could be because a lot of them are related but it’s also because they’re neighbors or classmates or they go to Mass together. We care. And it doesn’t matter if you were born into this community or came later in life. If you live in Fancy Farm you will find people leave a bag of sweet corn on your porch because theirs came in their garden and they have more than they’ll need. The same with tomatoes or cucumbers or peaches or apples. If you live in Fancy Farm people will wave to you or honk their horn as they drive by your house, or pass you in their car. Yes, they do know your car. If you live in Fancy Farm and your mower is broken it’s not unusual for your neighbor to run down while he’s mowing his grass and mow yours. If you’ve been sick or have had a death in the family don’t plan on cooking for awhile, there’s all kinds of food brought in. And if you’re a farmer and have gotten down, the other farmers in the community will come in and finish planting your crop or getting your crop out. And they won’t expect any pay for any of that. Yeah, that’s Fancy Farm. But I’m sure there are lots of other communities in this country of ours that resemble our community.
But on the first weekend of August it seems that Fancy Farm is pretty special. People drive for hours to get here. Shoot, if you plan on flying in, you have to fly into Nashville or Memphis or St. Louis, and drive another 2 hours to get here. There aren’t any hotels in Fancy Farm so you have to plan on staying in Mayfield or Paducah. There’s only 1 restaurant in town but on the first weekend of August you don’t have to worry about eating. There’s plenty. Friday night there’s an all-you-can-eat fish fry. All day Saturday you can eat barbecued pork and mutton. Don’t miss the dinner because there are all of those fresh vegetables out of our gardens, and home-made pies and cakes and fried chicken on top of the barbecue. Lots of people bring their lawn chairs or a blanket. You can usually find a place to sit. It just might not be where you want to sit. This year I saw lots of people sitting on the lawn in front of the old school, under a shade tree, eating their barbecue sandwiches.
Most people in town have a house full of family or friends for the weekend. We sometimes have visitors that we don’t even know. They had a class with one of the kids and remembered that they were from Fancy Farm and would we mind them crashing on the couch. This year we had all of the beds full, even the recliner full. We make sure that they understand that they are more than welcome but we won’t be able to entertain them. We have work to do. They will have to fend for themselves. But late on Saturday night, when we haven’t won the grand prize, again, it’s real nice to sit out on the deck and get a feel of what those people thought of the picnic. They are usually amazed, and overwhelmed, and tired. But they always vow to come back. And lots of times they do.
This is usually after the politicians and their supporters have left the area, and gone back to their homes. They are usually amazed, and overwhelmed, and tired too. Most of them have lost their voices. I’m sure they analyze, and recap their day, and sleep on their way home. And I’m also sure that they are the first ones up on Sunday morning to see what the media is saying about their candidates and the day and see if they are in the paper or in a news clip.
We do the same thing. But we are more interested in how many pictures they take of the crowd, and the barbecue and the community. This year my son and my nephew were on MSNBC. They were chopping mutton with Alison Lundergan Grimes. Another nephew was on the speaker’s stand, right behind the Senator McConnell. He was taking pictures. He’s really into politics. He says how can he not be, having been raised in Fancy Farm? One website had more pictures of the meat being barbecued than I had ever seen. Honestly, I’ve looked at so many websites that they sort of meld together. We are really lucky in that KET (Kentucky Educational Television) broadcasts the entire program, live. Then they do a recap show of the highlights. But they also serve as a “feed” to news outlets world-wide. I’m sure that helps a lot of news organizations who can’t come down. I know the live feed is great for people who live away from here but are still interested.
So yeah, we’re all about the politics for that weekend. We decided a long time ago that the politicians bring the crowds. The crowds bring their money & spend it to make the picnic successful. So we’re glad they’re here. We’re glad they’re all here. But we are also very glad when it’s all over and they all go home.