Food? Fun? It's Fancy Farm!

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 limited most of the picnic’s usual activities, from the Friday fish fry at the Knights of Columbus Hall and the road races to Saturday’s home-cooked meals and fair-style booth games. Barbecue pork and mutton — still blessed following a Friday morning Mass on the picnic grounds — were only sold by the pound last year.

A planned revamping of the political speaking for last year was to move the event from the outdoor pavilion into Fancy Farm Elementary School’s gymnasium, but the enclosed space and concerns by politicians eventually axed that idea and the whole speaking spectacle itself.

So with restrictions on large gatherings from state health officials last year, what picnic organizers were able to do for the St. Jerome Parish fundraiser was have their annual vehicle raffle (a side-by-side 4-wheeler was up for grabs last year), takeout fish dinners and barbecue, and t-shirt sales to bring in dollars.

For 2021, despite a jump in local COVID-19 cases, the show will again go on from the Mass under the Bingo pavilion on the picnic grounds at 7 a.m. this Friday to the raffle drawing (a 2021 Chevy Silverado pickup) at 10 p.m. that Saturday with plenty of food, games and politics smack in the middle.

Hayden said officials have planned for options after 2020.

“When we began the planning process, we were planning for both scenarios, meaning a full picnic or reduced capacity kind of picnic, depending on guidelines,” he said. “We’re mindful of what’s going on, as well, but as far as the overall picnic we’ve got basically a normal picnic planned to take place.

“Last year, we were obviously all in the midst of five to six months into the pandemic and we couldn’t do what we normally did, but we still wanted to do something and do it safely,” Hayden added. “This year, we still want to do it safely and responsibly from the pandemic standpoint but we also know we’re in a much different place that we were a year ago.”

Hayden also said as the St. Jerome parishioners and picnic organizers are prepared and aware of protocols observed last year during the pandemic, the general public is, too.

“I think everyone is mindful that we all do things differently from a year ago and especially two years ago,” he said.

Organizers have spoken with Graves County Health Department officials and will have their mobile unit on site to provide vaccinations.

The 141st St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic will feature the KofC fish fry at 5 p.m. Friday with the 1-Mile Classic Run at 6 p.m. and 5K Fun Run at 7 p.m. Music and Bingo will go into the night, and fair food will be sold on the picnic grounds beginning at 6 p.m.

The Kentucky Educational Television public affairs program “Comment on Kentucky” annually broadcasts live from the picnic ground’s pavilion. A KET spokesperson said they will not broadcast the program Friday night from Fancy Farm, but they will air the picnic and political speaking Saturday with a recap on Monday night.

Saturday, the some-19,000 pounds of barbecue smoked since the previous day will go on sale by the pound at 8 a.m. with the official picnic start set for 10 a.m. Home-cooked meals of barbecue, fried chicken, sweet corn, lima beans, green beans, purple hull peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, potato salad, slaw and desserts will be served at the KofC Hall on site from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m.

The annual Pioneer Award presentations, recognizing those Graves Countians who give back to their community, are slated for 1:30 p.m. before the political speaking revs up at 2 p.m.

This year’s speaking event will have a decidedly Republican bent as the two Democrat office holders in Kentucky — Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman — opted not to attend. Political Speaking Committee Chairman Steven Elder made that announcement a week ago.

“Fancy Farm is a great tradition and we’re committed to returning in the near future,” Beshear spokesman Sebastian Kitchen told the Associated Press.

Republican State Treasurer Allison Ball had also declined to attend Fancy Farm this year after having recently given birth to her and her husband’s second child.

While the speaker’s platform and pavilion crowds are typically divided between the two political parties, the GOP will have the lion’s share of opportunity to spread its message at their morning breakfast at WK&T Technology Park (serving from 7:30-9 a.m.) and at the picnic.

Confirmed Republican speakers for Fancy Farm include Kentucky State Rep. Richard Heath, State Sen. Jason Howell, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, State Attorney General Daniel Cameron, U.S. Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles, and State Auditor Mike Harmon.

Harmon has already announced he will run for governor in 2023.

Two other big name Republicans — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul — were still pending about their attendance.

Also added to the speakers’ roster is Court of Appeals Judge J. Chris McNeill.

For politicos or those who rather enjoy the communal vibe of the small Graves County town, Hayden said the picnic is an opportunity to experience a slice of Americana that rarely gets showcased nowadays.

“Maybe they’re playing Bingo for a couple of hours and then go to the cafeteria to eat and buy a couple of pounds of pork and mutton. They think, ‘Man, this is absolutely incredible that this can be pulled off in what appears to be — and is — a small, small community,’ ” he said.

“If you’ve been multiple times, you kind of stop and look around and think how do they pull this off?”