In its 141st year, the Fancy Farm Picnic in Graves County is set to resume this weekend after a one-year hiatus from COVID-19 concerns and cancellations.
And yet, questions remain about the event’s potency in 2021.
With no large elections up for true debate this season, several hefty names — including leading Republican Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Andy Beshear and U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul — will not be in attendance, in what will certainly be a bonanza of barbecue, bingo and bull.
Beshear’s Lieutenant Governor, Jacqueline Coleman, was the only other Democrat invited to speak this Saturday, and she too has declined, leaving the political pulpit wide open for a swathe of Republican voices to scramble for airtime leading up to 2023 elections.
First Congressional US Representative and Republican James Comer was one of the first to accept an invitation to speak at Fancy Farm, in what’s been a long-running tradition of attendance for both he and his family.
Another developing concern for the largely-attended event: COVID-19. The recent surges in a wide-spreading Delta variant have forced much of the Commonwealth’s school systems and private institutions to return to wearing masks while indoors — despite vaccination status — and it’s a concern heading into the weekend.
As of August 5 and according to the Center for Disease Control, only 32% of Graves County’s population was vaccinated — among the lower-third in Kentucky’s counties.
Comer is among several Republican leaders who have been urging constituents to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and have turned up the volume on those requests in recent weeks.
The ongoing pandemic, which seemed to have ebbed in early June before this resurgence, is one reason Beshear has opted to remain absent this weekend.
Aside from its political fanfare, the picnic has long been a helpful fundraiser for the St. Jerome Catholic Church, as well as a major mid-year gathering point for west Kentucky families.
For more information, visit stjeromefancyfarm.com. KET will be streaming and airing Fancy Farm coverage, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
