156. Fancy Farm and more - The Final Part

With the exception of Paducah, all of Kentucky's larger cities lay to the east of Fancy Farm. Given that most of the ten to fifteen thousand souls attending the speech-making part of the picnic are from somewhere other than Fancy Farm, whose unofficial population is set at somewhere around 600, most of those are arriving from the east, along the final segment of Kentucky's Southern Corridor, KY 80, which makes an eight mile journey west from Mayfield's intersection with the Julian Carroll Purchase Parkway over to Fancy Farm. As such, and given that I can be something of a contrarion, I usually approach from the north as I did last weekend. My travelling friend and I left from Paducah along US 45 out past the Mount Kenton Cemetery where former US Vice President Alben Barkley lays buried in a grave, whose marker does not identify his distinction as the former McCracken County Attorney, McCracken County Judge, seven-term First District Congressman, five elections as United States Senator, and Vice President of the United States of America. (One of the elections to the Senate came after he had served his vice presidential term). Once past the cemetery, we then passed through the community of Lone Oak, and then off to the south-southwest along KY 339 toward Fancy Farm. Having earlier passed Vice President Barkley's final resting place, along this route we also pass through the hamlet of Loews where he was born. Eventually KY 339 arrives as the north-south artery in Fancy Farm, with the Saint Jerome Catholic Church coming into view on the the left.

Saint Jerome is the reason for the picnic. Fancy Farm is a predominantly Catholic village in Graves County, in a predominantly non-Catholic area about one mile east of the Carlisle-Graves county line. The picnic itself officially dates to 1880, but may be older. It is held as a fundraiser for the parish which serves the Fancy Farm area. At one time Saint Jerome was a seat of education for the community but the parish school has long since closed. There is a school operated by the Graves County Public Schools which now serves the area. Over the years, local controversies have always been a part of the Fancy Farm experience, whether is was pig fams, chicken farms, local zoning proposals, or - as is the case this year - whether or not to merge the Fancy Farm and Loews elementaries into one new and bigger school. The locals oppose it not wanting to lose their last bit of community identification. Governor Fletcher weighed into the matter over the weekend saying he supported delaying the decision until more information could be gathered. As someone whose elementary and high school alma maters have both been closed, I understand the locals being upset. But I've also seen the new and better usage of the buildings which housed my former schools as part of an ongoing and improved education process for the next several generations of students and, in retrospect, my opposition to the closures was more for me than for the future. But, I digress.

Arriving in Fancy Farm from the north allows one to easily find a parking space on the one paved civic parking lot, on the northwest corner of KY 80 and KY 339, across from the church. The picnic itself takes place on the acreage of the old school, which is around the corner and across the street from the church. The old school and its auxiliary buildings are at the front of the lot, which is where the speech-taking used to take place, on the stump of an old tree which has since died and been memorialized. To the rear of the school is the large outdoor Bingo hall, which throughout the day was a continual host to about 500 patrons playing Bingo at any given time. Like any picnic, there were other booths where one could play games of chance including a dunking booth operated by some 5th, 6th, and 7th graders taking turns being dunked - probably hoping so given that the temperature for most of the afternoon hovered at just below 100 degrees. More than a few adults tried to volunteer to be dunked, but to no avail.

Beyond the picnic proper is the large pavilion built in this decade where perhaps 1000 can be seated on bleachers, while the politicians themselves take their places on the grandstand. Looking toward the grandstand, the Republicans tend to set on the right and the Democrats on the left - an appropriate arrangement. Along the far right side of the picnic grounds are the outdoor kitchens where literally thousands of pounds of pork, beef, and mutton are cooking, and have been for a day and a half. The outdoor kitchens run on for about the equivalent of a city block. On the far left side of the pavilion is the parking lot for the RVs, motor homes, and tents of the various campaigns. Moving on behind the pavilion is the large meeting hall of the Knights of Columbus Council #1418, built in 1992. (This KofC Council was chatered in 1906). And, as stated in a previous entry, this is the heart and soul of the picnic, which is the dinner offered for sale, this year costing $9 for an adult and $4 for a child.

The dinner line starts at 11:00 am and from its beginning is long. We stood in line, in 99 degree weather, for nearly forty-five minutes. The line never shortens and the food inside is why. If you ever go to the Fancy Farm Picnic, take the time to stand in line. The dinner consists of a buffet line serving green beans, black eyed peas, limas, corn, tomatoes, onions, slaw, beef, mutton, pork, and fried chicken. Drinks are brought to your table by the locals. Bread and butter are already on the tables. Afterwards, any number of dessert offerings can be picked up from another table. It is, without question, quite an extravaganza, not for the faint of heart or stomach, nor is it any place for a vegetarian or a vegan. Fortunatety, when it comes to food I am none of the above, which is obvious from my more than ample frame.

After dinner comes the speaking. By now, most everyone in the mainstream media has given their takes on the speeches and so I wont except briefly. I will say that even though he is not a Democrat, I have always enjoyed Mitch McConnell's speeches, a cadence of one line which draws people in followed by a second which offers them a zinger. It is a practiced effect he has used for years, and while he seemed off his usual rhythym, he nonetheless delivered the same again. But he was also distracted, something that I've never noticed before. He is off his usual game and that in itself is significant.

Senator McConnells' speech was followed by the governor's - a rehashing of the usual themes used against Democrats built around God and guns. Fletcher left out any attacks on gays, the final third of the Republican Party's typical rants. Steve Beshear followed with an outline against the governor and his corrupted years in office. And from there down the tickets, one side traded barbs with the other. I was most impressed with Jack Conway, but then I am a fan and supporter of his. The speeches go on and on, some short, some long, some interesting, but mostly not. The longest speech (you might say) of the day was not delivered by a politician, but rather a clergyman. The whole event was opened with an Invocation delivered by the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro, the Most Reverend John J. McRaith. I was standing with four people (all of whom were unsuccessful candidates in the May Primary, whose names will go unpublished for this part of the story) during Father's blessing, which went on and on and on and on and on and on. There were several points where I thought he was concluding the prayer, but I was wrong, as he was only concluding one of the many paragraphs in his prayer. If there were any people thinking of converting because some Baptist prayer-ers tend to be long-winded, the Bishop put to rest any thoughts that Catholic prayers, like some of its masses, tend to be short. Usually at the conclusion of a prayer (of any sort), there is a collective Amen. Not so with the Bishop as most people had stopped listening before he had stopped praying. The Bishop's lengthy prayer was followed by three verses of My Old Kentucky Home.

And so the speeches went. Honestly, I did not listen to all of them and sooner or later, determined the time had came to depart the picnic for some more of a road trip.

Leaving Fancy Farm, we travelled west along KY 80 through the towns of Milburn and Arlington and into the town of Columbus (in Hickman County) where we visited the Columbus-Belmont State Park, of which I've previously written several entries ago. Leaving from there, we cruised along KY 58 to Clinton in Hickman County, then followed US 51 back through Bardwell for yet another search for the Court House, another unsuccessful search. I've since been told where it is and how I missed it. From Bardwell, we continued north to Wickliffe along US 51, finding US 60's western entry into the Commonwealth, along which we rode through Barlow, LaCenter, and back into McCracken County and Paducah, where we put up for the night. Although it was our plan to have a night on the town in Paducah, neither of us were up to after a long day in the sun and heat, and so it was off to bed for night.

[I'll point out here the d'enouement of this entry is fast approaching].

Sunday morning found us preparing for the return trip to the Left Bank of the Ohio river near Milepoint 606. We met some friends for a lunch at the Catfish Haven restaurant on US 641 in Draffenville in Marshall County. The place came highly recommended but frankly, I was not impressed. But, I did eat everything on my plate, including two slabs of catfish. Dinner came with bowls of navy beans, hush puppies, and some very good slightly sweet slaw.

We eventually left the Jackson Purchase region, crossing back over the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers on I-24 headed for the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway and Elizabethtown. But - not before one last tourist stop. My fellow traveller wanted to tour the Adsmore House in Princeton, an anti-bellum estate home on North Jefferson Street, formerly owned by the Smith and Garrett families, powerful merchants of Princeton. The last surviving member of the family, the unmarried and childless Katharine Garrett willed the home to the Princeton Library which operates it as a living museum.

In the front left parlor of the home is the century old piano of Robert Garrett, a former resident. When the tour guide asked "Is there a piano player in the group?" I stepped forward. I do not willingly pass up pianos unplayed. She allowed me to take the bench and I played a few verses of "Shall We Gather At The River," a traditional Baptist hymn written by Robert Lowry. So, now I can say I've played the Adsmore Museum!

This was the last stop on our weekend trip to Fancy Farm and the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky. It was a long weekend and a good break from life in Louisville.