By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-915773.mp3
Fancy Farm, KY – The 130th annual Fancy Farm Picnic begins August 6. Folks from western Kentucky and beyond come out for barbeque and bingo. But the two-day church picnic's hallmark event is Saturday's round of political stump speeches. Big name orators have included everyone from former Kentucky Governor A. B. Happy Chandler to former Vice President Al Gore. Angela Hatton has some explanations for why the Fancy Farm Picnic has endured in western Kentucky.
In 1978, Governor Julian Carroll was the distinguished guest speaker at the Fancy Farm Picnic. This recording of Carroll's remarks is from the Kentucky Historical Society.
"We've got a season of political promises ahead of us. A time in which we're going to find many of the politicians of Kentucky trying to outpromise each another. All promising to reduce taxes, and increase expenditures."
According to Western Kentucky University Associate Professor of Political Science Scott Lasley, Fancy Farm has long signaled the start of the fall campaign season.
"And it is the one place that attracts media from all over the state, and so there is a lot of coverage. There is a lot of attention. It does provide some opportunity to get your message out, so it is attractive to politicians from that standpoint."
But Fancy Farm hasn't always been so popular. Mark Wilson is the picnic's political chairman. He traces Fancy Farm's notoriety back to Alben Barkley, who was vice president under Harry Truman.
"And he was from real small community there in Graves County. And when he became vice president, course him growing up next to the Fancy Farm area, he always made it a point to be at the political speaking."
Lasley credits the picnic's popular rise more to former Governor and U.S. Senator A. B. Happy Chandler, but says both Barkley and Chandler were known as great orators. Lasley says speakers, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, thrive in the Fancy Farm style of politics.
"To some extent it's almost kind of a sport-type atmosphere, that I think people generally take it in good nature. So it's an opportunity to kind of needle people and kind of have some fun doing it."
"We're working on that my friend, and if you want to argue with me, I'm ready for you anytime you want to get on this stand." *Crowd cheer*
Wendell Ford was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, and often came to Fancy Farm to support his fellow Democrats running for office.
"I want to tell you I enjoy Fancy Farm. Shoot, this is what it's all about. I don't know where it's the stuff that gives me the juice, but I like it."
For life-long members of St. Jerome's Parish, like Mark Wilson, the picnic is still a part of the church's tradition.
"It's still basically a reunion for the St. Jerome parishioners and the families. A lot of families, when they come in they hold their family reunions that weekend."
But for those outside of St. Jerome, politics are still the biggest draw. Lasley says political science professors use Fancy Farm to explain political campaign strategies to their students.
"Politics now is so much blitz. So much of it is conducted via television, and now perhaps even the internet, that this is really nostalgic look back, and I think perhaps the significance is historic as much as anything else."
Organizers of the 130th annual picnic expect to attract nearly fifteen thousand people. The stump speeches begin at 2 PM, August 7.