Fancy Farm 2010:
Pork, Pie and Politics
The 2010 edition of Fancy Farm: Pork, Pie and Politics served as the kickoff event to KET’s fall election coverage.
- Ferrell Wellman hosted Comment on Kentucky live from Fancy Farm on Friday, Aug. 6, previewing the fall election with a panel of journalists: Bill Bartleman of The Paducah Sun, Owen Covington of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer; and Ronnie Ellis of CHNI News Service. Watch Online
On Saturday, Aug. 7, KET produced a live telecast of the afternoon’s political stump speeches, emceed by the Rev. Jeff Hoover. Watch the complete video (approx. 2.5 hours)
Webcast Video
On Saturday afternoon, Aug. 7, KET presented a live webcast of the political speeches. You can watch it as it happened (approx. 2 hours 27 minutes), or choose a segment below. The speakers are listed in the order in which they spoke.
 Gov. Steve Beshear (D) [6:35] |
 U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) [6:17] |
 Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) [3:27] |
 State Attorney General Jack Conway, for U.S. Senate [D] [5:54] |
 Rand Paul for U.S. Senate [R] [5:58] |
 U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (incumbent) for 1st Congressional District [R] [3:38] |
 Charles Hatchett for 1st Congressional District [D] [5:12] |
 State Sen. Ken Winters (R-1st) [3:02] |
 State Rep. Fred Nesler (D-2nd), who is unopposed [2:24] |
 Mike Lawrence for the 1st District Kentucky House seat [3:09] |
About Fancy Farm
Every year since the early 1880s, St. Jerome Catholic Church in the small town of Fancy Farm, near Mayfield in Graves County, has hosted an annual community picnic. It was a local affair at first, where people gathered to eat Western Kentucky barbecue and enjoy some regional entertainment. But at some point, political candidates began to see the Fancy Farm Picnic as a good chance to meet, greet, and stump for votes. Soon a platform for speaking was added, and by the middle of the 20th century, Fancy Farm had become the unofficial kickoff event for the fall campaigns.
These days at Fancy Farm, picnic volunteers serve up tons of barbecue (pork and the regional favorite, mutton) while crowds gather at the speakers’ platform to cheer—or jeer—their chosen candidates.
For more information on the picnic, see the official Fancy Farm web site.