Fancy Farm is here. How to watch, what to expect at KY’s biggest political event
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fancy Farm Picnic hosts three GOP Senate hopefuls vying to replace McConnell
- KET preserves event coverage through Kentucky Chamber sponsorship after funding cuts
- Event draws political focus despite absence of major Democratic politicians in 2025
Kentucky’s most storied political event is just around the corner.
St. Jerome’s 145th annual Fancy Farm Picnic will feature thousands of pounds of cooked mutton and pork, bingo games galore, a 5k and much more in an effort to raise money for the St. Jerome Catholic Church Parish in rural Graves County.
But the eyes of Kentucky’s political class will be fixed on the speaker’s stage this Saturday.
The main attraction? Three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate vying to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell. Former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, 6th Congressional District Rep. Andy Barr and Lexington tech entrepreneur Nate Morris are all sharing the same stage for the first time in front of a raucous crowd in West Kentucky.
By this time next year — assuming there’s no late-game prominent entrant like commentator and Trump favorite Scott Jennings — one of them will be the Republican nominee for the seat, and likely favored to become Kentucky’s next U.S. Senator given the state’s GOP leanings in federal elections.
There will be notable absences: The state’s prominent Democrats.
With Gov. Andy Beshear, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Pam Stevenson not attending, the only Democrat slated to speak is Drew Williams, a little-known candidate running against Republican Rep. James Comer in the deep red 1st Congressional District.
Rounding out the speaker slate are a few statewide officers: Attorney General Russell Coleman, Commissioner of Agriculture Jonathan Shell and Treasurer Mark Metcalf. Local state General Assembly members Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, and Rep. Kim Holloway, R-Mayfield, will speak as well.
At the center of it all will be Ashli Watts, the leader of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. Watts will make history as the event’s first woman emcee in its decades-long run as a political speaking event.
The annual picnic began in 1881, but it wasn’t until A.B. “Happy” Chandler ran for lieutenant governor in 1931 that the event got popularized statewide, when primaries took place in August and the event date was much closer to an important election. From then on, the event grew in political prominence and overall size.
How to watch
Kentucky Educational Television, after a public back-and-forth over their coverage of the event, will be livestreaming the political speaking and airing analysis Saturday.
Coverage can be viewed over KET’s television broadcast or on its digital platforms like ket.org.
The network cited recent cuts to public media passed by Republicans in Congress as a reason it couldn’t cover the event. About one quarter of its employees are funded by federal grants, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which lost all its funding in the cuts, made up about 13% of its budget.
KET’s coverage of the event was salvaged by the sponsorship of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, according to network CEO Shae Hopkins.
Lexington television station Fox56 will also stream the political speaking on its digital platforms. It is pairing with the political podcast Kentucky Politics Weekly — hosted by former state GOP spokesman Tres Watson, Democratic consultant Jared Smith and lobbyist Abby Piper — for live coverage and analysis.
