The grand champion country ham at the Kentucky State Fair fetched a six-figure price at a charity auction Thursday morning. The grand champion ham, produced by Broadbent's B and B Foods of Lyon County, Kentucky, sold for $200,000 during the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual ham breakfast. The top bidder was Louisville-based Republic Bank. The proceeds go to charities chosen by the buyer. Bank founder Bernard Trager says one beneficiary will be the 21st Century Parks initiative. That's the effort to add thousands of acres of land to Louisville's park system."I think that's somethat that all of the citizens of this community and region will benefit from, so we made a major commitment to it and we're going to increase that commitment with a portion of these proceeds," Trager said.As for the 18-pound grand champion ham, Trager says it will be donated to a local hospital.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.