Berry Craig and his trusty Nikon were everywhere this weekend, covering the Fancy Farm doin’s. Here are some of the many, many pix he took. Enjoy!
The Prelims
Fancy Farm isn’t just the picnic and speaking on Saturday. It’s a whole weekend of events, starting with the Barkley Dinner on Thursday night. Then on Friday, there is the Danny Ross Labor Lunch and the Mike Miller Bean Dinner. Finally, on Saturday there is the Graves County Brunch.
The Rev. Ray Henderson, a Paducah city commissioner, welcomes AB to the Barkley Dinner.Beshear with Carol Young, widow of W.C. Young, a national labor and civil rights leader from Paducah. As part of the program at the Barkley Dinner, the late Glenn Dowdy, a longtime local labor leader, was presented the W.C. Young Award, the highest honor the Paducah-based Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council bestows.Beshear speaking at the Danny Ross West Kentucky Building & Construction Trades Council Labor Luncheon on FridayThe entire ticket on stage at the Labor LuncheonLt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman looks on as the Gov fires up the crowd at the Graves County Brunch on Saturday morning.Mayfield Mayor Cathy O'Nan and the first couple at the Graves brunch.
The Main Event
After the brunch, it’s on to the village of Fancy Farm and the “world’s largest barbecue cookout.” This year the Dems showed up in a big way.
The Dem caravan on the way to Fancy Farm.The ridiculous and silly tagline for Jonathan Shell’s campaign.Steelworkers for Beshear: Josh Gray of Paducah, Justin Herthel of Louisville, and Chad Conley of AshlandBeshear headed to the speaker’s platformFiring up the crowdReturning the applauseBeshear spoke about his record, about leadership, and about compassion. He was well-received.Jamie Comer gave his usual mix of right-wing fear-mongering, this time mixed in with references to the Biden family (who aren’t running). But this year, he was outdone by ...Daniel Cameron, who gave what one long-time attendee called “the most vitriolic speech I have ever heard at Fancy Farm.”Senator Mitch McConnell was there as well, but did not look or sound like his usual self.The entire ticket spoke this year. and Colonel Pam Stevenson, running for AG, was a highlight of the down-ballot speakers.And in conclusion – our First Family. May they continue to carry that title for four more years.
Berry Craig is a professor emeritus of history at West KY Community College, and an author of seven books and co-author of two more. (Read the rest on the Contributors page.)
In recent elections (including the last one), the party retreated into its usual beltway isolation and re-adopted its prior strategy of listening to wealthy donors often and campaign volunteers never
