Pig Pickin’ celebrates Holly Rood milestone

The tangy aro­ma of bar­be­cue min­gled with the twangy melody of blue­grass as guests mixed with one anoth­er on the grounds of Holly Rood Saturday after­noon and evening.

The occa­sion was the eighth annu­al Pig Pickin’ for the Past, the Heritage Commission’s fall fundraiser.

This year’s din­ner was spe­cial because it marked the 50^th anniver­sary of the estab­lish­ment of the his­toric preser­va­tion group and the restora­tion of Holly Rood, which was the home of Kentucky Gov. James Clark and his fam­i­ly in the ear­ly 19^th century.

This year the Clark County Board of Education, which owns the por­tion of the front lawn that includes the Clark fam­i­ly bur­ial site, will deed the par­cel to the commission.

Sheila McCord, pres­i­dent of the Clark County Heritage Commission, was pleased with the event.

“We had a good crowd,” she said.

McCord esti­mat­ed about 125 tick­ets were sold. The bright blue sky and mild weath­er were per­fect for the gath­er­ing. The event was all out­doors this time, but guests were able to tour the old man­sion, which was built in 1814.

In addi­tion to tick­ets for the din­ner, there was a silent auc­tion to raise mon­ey, but as of Tuesday after­noon, vol­un­teers didn’t know how much they made.

Proceeds sup­port two schol­ar­ships a year to stu­dents to attend Bluegrass Community and Technical College, an annu­al field trip for Robert D. Campbell Elementary School stu­dents to the Kentucky Capitol and oth­er sites in Frankfort, and a Christmastime vis­it by Santa Claus to preschool children.

In addi­tion to pulled pork sand­wich­es and all the fix­ings, the menu includ­ed birth­day cake for Dustin Howard, super­in­ten­dent of schools, who was a spe­cial guest. County Constable David Puckett’s busi­ness, Pooh’s Que, pre­pared the main course, and he and his fel­low con­sta­bles pro­vid­ed the labor.

Musicians Steve Maynard, Zac Combs, and Kody Hatton per­formed blue­grass and gospel music on gui­tar, ban­jo, bass, and mandolin.

During the event, the com­mis­sion pre­sent­ed its annu­al his­toric preser­va­tion awards. One of them went to Sarah and Nicholas Seiber for their restora­tion of their Queen Anne Victorian man­sion on Belmont Avenue, which they have turned into an events venue and hos­pi­tal­i­ty stay known as Aisling House. 

A sec­ond award went to Karen and Wayne Combs for their invalu­able work over the years to pre­serve Holly Rood itself as well as sev­er­al oth­er prop­er­ties in Winchester and Clark County.

“It’s kind of a life­time achieve­ment award,” McCord said. “They’re just amaz­ing people.”