Republic Bank paid $400,000 for a 14-pound country ham on Thursday morning, continuing a decades-long Kentucky State Fair tradition.
The 52nd annual Kentucky Country Ham Breakfast & Auction included the usual appearances by elected officials and a country breakfast of eggs, sorghum and ham. (It also included the arrest of gay rights activists protesting the event's sponsor, Kentucky Farm Bureau.)
The main event was the charity auction of the state fair's blue-ribbon-winning country ham, raised by Charles Gatton at Father's Country Hams in Western Kentucky. Republic Bank was the winning bidder for the seventh time since 2004, according to the state fair.
The winning bid was small compared with last year's $2 million, which was a combined bid from multiple groups. But overall, it was among the largest winning bids in the auction's history. WFPL News' Erica Peterson adjusted the the winning bids for inflation:
The $400,000 bid will benefit "health care and education causes," according to the Kentucky State Fair.
About 1,600 people attended the event this year.
(Image by Ryland Barton)