Fancy Farm Picnic 2023: Live updates, who’s speaking and how to watch
The 2023 St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic, or just Fancy Farm for short, is kicking off today out in west Kentucky. The picnic is celebrating 143 years of barbecue, picnicking, fundraising and, perhaps the biggest draw in our more modern times, political speaking.
The Lexington Herald-Leader will be out in Graves County bringing you the latest from the picnic, so check out updates on down below. To help get you ready, here’s how to watch the picnic if you can’t make the drive and who’s speaking.
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Who is speaking at Fancy Farm?
First up, this is who is confirmed to be speaking on the Republican aisle:
Attorney General Daniel Cameron - Candidate for governor
State Sen. Robby Mills - Lieutenant governor candidate
Former state Rep. Jonathan Shell - Agriculture commissioner candidate
Garrard County Attorney Mark Metcalf - State treasurer candidate
Treasurer Allison Ball - Auditor candidate
Former U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman - Attorney general candidate
Secretary of State Michael Adams - Running for reelection
State Rep. Richard Heath
State Sen. Jason Howell
U.S. Rep. James Comer
Auditor Mike Harmon
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles
United States Sen. Rand Paul declined to attend this year. Sen. Mitch McConnell appeared Saturday morning at a breakfast event prior to the Fancy Farm picnic, but it’s not confirmed at this point whether the senator will speak at the picnic.
Over on the Democrats’ side we have:
Gov. Andy Beshear - Seeking reelection
Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman - Seeking reelection
Agriculture commissioner candidate Sierra Enslow
State treasurer candidate Michael Bowman
State auditor candidate Kim Reeder
Rep. Pam Stevenson - Attorney general candidate
Former state Rep. Buddy Wheatley - Secretary of state candidate
We’ve also got the speaking order for the day, if that is of interest.
Schedule of events
The picnic itself begins at 10 a.m. CDT with the political speaking portion beginning in the afternoon around 2 p.m.
If you’re worried about missing out on the festivities, you can watch the livestream from Kentucky Educational Television. The stream will start at 2:30 p.m. EST.
What exactly is Fancy Farm?
What isn’t Fancy Farm? The annual picnic began in 1881 as a church fundraiser for St. Jerome Catholic Church in the town of, you guessed it, Fancy Farm. Former Kentucky Gov. A.B. “Happy” Chandler is credited for popularizing the political speaking portion of the event. Nowadays, if you’re running for office in Kentucky you had better make a stop at Fancy Farm.
Live updates
Our team of reporters will be bringing updates from the picnic when possible, cell service may be a bit uncooperative at times. Follow along with their Twitter feeds:
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