"You know, you couldn't get close to it."
That's Beth Sumner, chair of the Trigg County Country Ham Festival Committee, talking about the oversized oven that has baked the festival's giant ham biscuit for four decades. She told the Kentucky New Era that in past years people never got a real look at it because it was always too hot. The oven stood next to the Bank of Cadiz, and the line for biscuit portions sometimes ran out onto Main Street before the biscuit sold out.
This year, for the festival's 50th, the oven is cold. That means anyone in downtown Cadiz on Saturday, October 10, can walk up, touch it and look inside. In a lot of ways, the anniversary weekend is built around a retirement.
Forty-One Years of Standing Back
The festival started earlier than the biscuit did. According to the festival's own history, the idea came up in 1974 in a conversation among UK Extension agents Elaine Cliff and John Fourqurean and their supervisor, Bill Summerhill. Planning began in 1975, and the first festival took place in the fall of 1977.
The big biscuit came eight years later. The oven was built for the 1985 festival through Smith Broadbent III of Broadbent Hams, who worked with an engineer on it. Its baking sheet is more than 10 feet wide. The festival's history puts the finished biscuit at over 10.5 feet across with 400 pounds of cooked country ham inside. Kentucky Living reported about 200 pounds of dough going in before baking.
Reports of the total weight don't agree, and neither do reports of a world record. The festival's history says the first biscuit made the Guinness Book. A 2002 CBS/AP item quoted an organizer of a rival biscuit effort who said Guinness had no ham-biscuit category at all. Every account agrees on what the biscuit did every year: volunteers baked it, filled it with ham, cut it into portions and served it, and the money went to local nonprofits.
Why the 50th Is the Year It Stops
WKDZ reported on September 29 that the 11-foot oven is beyond repair and that the giant biscuit won't be made this year. Sumner explained the decision in the New Era:
"We have got to err on the side of caution and make sure that everything is safe for the people who are using it and for the festival-goers. So we are not going to be able to bake the biscuit this year."
The festival website still describes the biscuit being baked early Saturday morning. The September and October reporting from WKDZ and the New Era is the current plan. Instead of a baking crew, there will be a retirement celebration at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Renaissance Square, across the street from Cadiz City Hall. Visitors are invited to touch the oven and look inside to see how it was built.
Broadbent's, the company tied to the oven since 1985, will hand out 500 free ham-and-biscuits at the ceremony. The committee expects more than 20,000 guests downtown over the weekend, which works out to roughly one free biscuit for every 40 people. If you want one, being in Renaissance Square at 10:30 is the safer bet than wandering over at noon.
Saturday, Hour by Hour
The oven ceremony lands in the busiest part of the day. Here is how Saturday lines up, based on the festival's published schedule and the committee's final planning meeting:
- 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.: The Country Ham Show on the Bank of Cadiz front lawn. The canoe race runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the West Cadiz Park boat ramp.
- From 10 a.m.: The Ham Fest history display opens at the Cadiz Baptist Church Annex. The festival schedule lists it until 5 p.m., and WKDZ's report gives 4 p.m.
- 10:30 a.m.: The oven retirement celebration and Broadbent's biscuit giveaway in Renaissance Square.
- 11:30 a.m.: The ham-and-biscuit eating contest. The festival schedule lists it on the Renaissance Stage, and WKDZ's report puts it at the Farmers Market Square Main Stage. The winner's chosen charity gets $2,500, and every contestant takes home a Hancock's Neighborhood Market apron.
- Afternoon: The Mullet & PigTails Contest at 12:30 p.m., pedal tractor pulls at 1 p.m., the Rock of Ages gospel performance at 2 p.m. and the hog-calling contest at 4 p.m.
- 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.: Chainsaw carving shows in Renaissance Square, where artists carve pig-themed sculptures right next to the oven on display.
The eating contest starts an hour after the ceremony. That gives you time to see the old oven, eat a free biscuit and then go watch other people eat a lot more of them. Saturday evening's concerts are BELLES and Boot Scootin' Boogie Nights.
The Rest of the Weekend Leans on Its History
The oven isn't the only part of this festival that looks back. The history display relies partly on items from local families. As of the committee's last meeting, organizers Lucy Kyler and Melissa Wallace were still asking for things to add, and the committee's word for it was "the more the merrier." If you have an old festival T-shirt or photo in a drawer, there's still time to bring it in this week.
The ham itself has a history too. Broadbent's has changed a lot since 1985. Joshua Poling, a chef and restaurant owner, bought the company from Ronnie and Beth Drennan in 2024. The Drennans had earlier moved the curing operation from Cadiz to Kuttawa, where the market now sits at 257 Mary Blue Road. Trigg County producers still compete in the Country Ham Show, though. Kerry Fowler won the 2025 show, so Saturday's judging is worth a stop even if you never stood in the biscuit line.
Friday opens with a nod to Fort Campbell. At 10 a.m. on October 9, the 101st Airborne Division Color Guard presents the colors. The Division Band plays the Main Stage near Farmers Market Square from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., and the 101st also plans a static display. Friday also has the quilt show, petting zoo and chainsaw carving, with Arielle Evans and REWIND on stage. Just over 225 vendors line the streets, including Locals Lane for community vendors and Genesis Express, a lighthearted "jail" that raises money for the nonprofit Genesis.
Getting Around Downtown That Week
The festival starts closing streets before the music starts:
- Thursday, October 8, 7 a.m.: The Chamber's Kickoff Breakfast is at the Lexie Bush Convention Center, with doors at 6 a.m. The Cadiz Restaurant is catering, and festival T-shirts will be for sale.
- Thursday by noon: Main Street closes to through traffic from Cadiz Baptist Church to West Cadiz Park as vendors arrive, and authorities will contact owners of vehicles left in that zone.
- Throughout the festival: Spring Street, behind Farmers Market Square, is closed to the public and reserved for performers' staging and parking.
- Sunday, October 11: Carnival rides continue after the main festival ends.
Who Builds the Next One
Nobody has said the giant biscuit is gone for good. Sumner told the New Era that organizers are already talking with community partners about building a new oven for next year: "We still want to have some form of the tradition. We just don't know right now what that's going to look like." WKDZ reported that local stakeholders and the Career & Technical Center at Trigg County High School will likely team up to build it over the coming year.
That fits with another 50th-year addition. The new Wildcat Den gives Trigg County student teams, clubs, classes and organizations a shared 20-by-20-foot tent and free booth space at the Cadiz-Trigg County Farmers Market pavilion. The Class of 2027's Project Graduation is handling trash pickup, sponsored by Jones Brothers Towing. The 1985 oven came from one ham company and an engineer. The next one may come out of a high school shop. Anyone who wants to help pay for or build it can call Sumner at Trigg County Tourism at 270-522-3892.
Our team at Market Masters Group knows how much traditions like Ham Fest mean to Trigg County, and we'll be cheering when a new oven fires up. If you have questions about life or homes around Cadiz, or just want to compare notes on Saturday's eating contest, Let's Connect.
