Every first Saturday in August, the little community of Fancy Farm reminds the rest of Kentucky of something we sometimes forget in Frankfort and Washington: politics doesn’t belong only to consultants, cable news panels, or campaign war rooms. It belongs to the people.
The 146th St. Jerome Fancy Farm Picnic, scheduled for August 1, will once again draw officeholders, candidates, volunteers, reporters, families, and more than a few folks who come out first for the barbecue, but who also stay for the political fireworks. It is a church fundraiser, a West Kentucky tradition, and—for better or worse—the Commonwealth’s most famous political stage.
This year’s gathering is shaping up around major statewide and national questions. Kentucky has an open U.S. Senate seat as Senator Mitch McConnell prepares to leave the office he has held for decades. Congressman Andy Barr and former Representative Charles Booker are expected to be among the names drawing attention. Senator Rand Paul, Congressman James Comer, Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman, Attorney General Russell Coleman, Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell, State Senator Jason Howell, State Representative Kim Holloway, and John Drew Williams are also part of the announced lineup, with other statewide officials still pending as of the latest reports.
And with the 2026 General Election close at hand, and hints of how 2027 Constitutional Office races might develop, including the Gubernatorial (and maybe the Presidential) race, we may see many of those aforementioned fireworks.
It is said that you can’t win Fancy Farm, but you can definitely lose Fancy Farm. And this has been true for several politicians over the years. Thankfully, I was not one of them.
During my 21 years serving as an elected official, I had the honor of speaking on the Fancy Farm stage 8 times — once as a candidate for Kentucky State Auditor and 7 times while serving as Auditor. It would have been 9 times total, but one year was cancelled during COVID.
If you’ve never been, I would encourage you to go. As a candidate, you stand on the stage looking out into a sea of Democrats on your right side and a sea of Republicans to your left. Rowdy probably doesn’t do justice to the crowds at this event.
Each speaker is given a specified time amount, and you must finish before your time, or loud music will play you off the stage. So communicating a good message and staying focused is imperative.
Now before my first time on the stage, my consultant wanted to properly prepare me. After I had written my speech, he came by my house to simulate how distracting being on stage might be at Fancy Farm.
He had both my wife and my Mom beat on pots and pans and he played very loud music and directed me to give my speech as he timed it. Needless to say, I did not finish on time.
After that practice, I rewrote my speech to allow time for distractions and some audience interactions. Booing from the Democrats and cheering from the Republicans were expected and I certainly was not disappointed by the time I got on stage.
Also, since Fancy Farm tends to be hot (and I mean really hot), my consultant advised me to drink a lot of water beforehand. And so I did. I drank 7 large cups of water at McDonalds (when their large was much bigger than now) and made sure I took care of other business prior to going on stage. It actually did help.
Before the big day, I ran through my speech what seemed like hundreds of times. So much so that my youngest daughter could practically give the speech herself since she was my driver.
I was determined to be able to give my speech without using note cards. But when Senator McConnell pulled out a crumbled-up piece of paper at the podium, I thought, “Well if he can use his notes, then I can too.”
The speeches traditionally include friendly teasing and joking elbowing, and I always tried to stay within those parameters. Certainly not all did and some got more vicious than you probably should at a Catholic picnic.
That first year I stuck with the traditional type of teasing, but at the end of the event, my good friend Jonathan Shell came up to me and said, “You sound just like Jeff Foxworthy.”
So, in 2016, when I returned as Auditor and not just a candidate, I started my, “You might be a Liberal Democrat,” tour. Not all years following, but many, I carried a similar theme. In that first year of doing the new routine, I also added a David Letterman-like card flip, much to the excitement of the crowd.
After I termed out of office, I must say, I have missed being on the stage at Fancy Farm. I made a lot of friends and enjoyed cutting up on stage. It would be my hope we could get back to that cordial teasing, not only on the Fancy Farm stage but in our politics more broadly.
If we can’t debate each other with a little teasing instead of calling people Hitler, etc. with anger in our hearts, I’m not sure how much longer this state or this nation can last. But I have faith that most people want (with help from God) to come together and discuss our differences calmly. Doing that will go a long way towards securing a more perfect union.
Mike Harmon served as Kentucky auditor of public accounts from 2016-2023 and before that was a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the 54th District. He is now state outreach director for the Comonwealth Policy Center.