There is no election on this year’s ballot, but that will not stop upwards of 10,000 from converging on the small western Kentucky hamlet of Fancy Farm, Kentucky, population of 900, this weekend.

Many will come for the barbecue, to buy a raffle ticket on a new vehicle or just to visit old friends and haunts.

Picnic chairman Mark Wilson said it might not be quite as hot this year — although he expects the rhetoric to be warm with candidates for the U.S. Senate scheduled to speak.

The picnic has been conducted every year since 1880, evolving into a fundraising event for St. Jerome’s Parish. Parishioners operate bingo games, lemonade stands, barbecue pits and cook fresh vegetables and homemade pies.

Those who have attended the picnic before look forward to the food. There is a fish fry Friday night and then on Saturday there is the buffet line in the Knights of Columbus Hall with barbecue pork, mutton and chicken, locally grown vegetables prepared by volunteers and homemade pies.

Greg Higdon, former state Senator and cabinet secretary who mans the barbecue pits, said organizers expect to spend Friday barbecuing more than 19,000 pounds of pork and mutton and several hundred chickens. His wife, Carole, was busy baking Derby pies Tuesday and she also is on the political committee which will place her on the speaking stand Saturday.

She said the pies and vegetables are all home made. Local farmers donate literally acres of corn and tomatoes for the event, she said.

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