'Pork, pie and politics' draw thousands to annual parish picnic

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

FANCY FARM, Ky. (CNS) -- On two of the hottest days of the summer, Aug. 1 and 2, the population of tiny Fancy Farm swelled to 10 or so times its usual size, as people from around the country arrived for the annual picnic sponsored by St. Jerome's Parish.

The parish -- and the sole church in town -- has only about 600 families, according to its pastor, Father David Willett, a Fancy Farm native.

But the 128-year-old Fancy Farm picnic has a reputation and a following that extends far beyond southeastern Kentucky. Some years as many as 15,000 people come for "pork, pie and politics" at what has been for decades the unofficial launching of the state's election season.

Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning, both Republicans, and a slew of incumbents and candidates for federal, state and local offices took to the stage in a raucous, bipartisan speechfest Aug. 2.

As he has for 25 years, Bishop John J. McRaith of Owensboro opened the political session with a prayer. He said he had recently opened his calendar for 2009 "and the first thing I put down is the Fancy Farm picnic for the first Saturday of August."

Heads bowed, the crowd joined the bishop in asking God for guidance "in using our God-given gifts and talents in a way that reflects our gratitude to you, by always placing the good of others before our own selfish desires." They also prayed for peace, liberty and justice.

Then the political show began in the outdoor pavilion.

Partisans cheered and jeered, before, during and after the speeches, applauding even the results of a coin toss to decide who would speak next.

Campaigners costumed as Arab sheiks and Darth Vader moved among the sweaty audience, many wearing election-themed buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers and waving paper fans against the afternoon heat.

A bluegrass band was pressed into service to act as the "time's up" indicator for speakers who ignored the more subtle paper signs the timekeeper used and who ran over their five-minute allotments.

And that was just during one two-hour part of the Fancy Farm picnic.

After serving about 8,500 pounds of barbecued mutton, 10,500 pounds of pit-barbecued pork and hundreds of pounds of chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs and sweet corn, picnic chairman Todd Hayden estimated that about 8,000 to 10,000 people attended this time.

He guessed that the crowd was smaller than in some years possibly because of the tight economy, extremely hot weather and a relatively quiet time in Kentucky politics.


Hayden told Catholic News Service that it takes pretty much every St. Jerome's parishioner who's able to help -- 1,000 to 1,200 people -- to pull off the picnic. Planning and execution is a 13-month project, managed entirely by parishioners, with no outside vendors allowed, he said.

Father Willett grew up on one of the many family-run farms that used to be the main employment for most residents of Fancy Farm, he told CNS in a phone interview. His great-great-grandparents were among the founders of Fancy Farm and of St. Jerome's in 1836.

After decades as an Army chaplain and in parish assignments in Paducah, Father Willett returned to his hometown as pastor a little more than a year ago. By then the little parish gathering that started in 1880, and where he used to help sell food and drinks, had become the "world's largest picnic" as credited by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1985.

Events kick off with an outdoor Mass on Friday, where the meat is blessed before it's put into the huge pits for cooking. A 5-kilometer race, a fun run and a fish fry are held before Saturday even arrives. Besides the political speeches on Saturday, there are games for children, bingo and a car raffle, held since the prize was a Model-T Ford in 1924.

"It's gotten much bigger, and more sophisticated," Father Willett said.

The picnic takes in "upwards of $200,000 each year," about half of which comes to the parish for its operations and programs, and it's a great activity for getting everyone involved, he said.

The well-oiled human machine that makes it all happen is so efficient that by the Monday after the picnic, there's no sign of the crowds that swarmed over the property at the church and the nearby public school, he said.

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