16-Pound Prized Ham Sold for $10 Million at Kentucky State Fair

16-Pound Prized Ham Sold for $10 Million at Kentucky State Fair https://ift.tt/rn73kci

The winning bid was made by Joe and Kelly Craft in partnership with Central Bank, and the money is set to benefit several local non-profits in Kentucky

Miss Kentucky 2026 is seen with the Kentucky State Fair prize-winning ham, which went home for $10 million at auction.
Credit: WHAS11

NEED TO KNOW

• A prize-winning ham went home for for the whopping price of $10 million at the Kentucky State Fair
• The $10 million winning bid was made by Joe and Kelly Craft in partnership with Central Bank
• Proceeds will benefit Kentucky organizations, including Boys & Girls Clubs, FFA chapters, and various nonprofits

A prize-winning ham went home for for the whopping price of $10 million at the Kentucky State Fair — and the proceeds are all set to go to organizations across the state,

On Thursday, Aug. 27, the Kentucky State Fair announced that its Grand Champion Country Ham went to the winning bidders following 62nd annual Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast and Charity Auction.

The winning fam, produced by Tim Berry of Clifty Farm Country Meats in Scottsville, Ky., weighed in at 16.7 pounds and went home with Joe Craft, the CEO of coal company Alliance Resource Partners, and Kelly Craft, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

The couple bid $5 million, and worked with Central Bank to put in their $10 million total bid.

The Crafts weren’t the only couple to try the 8-figure-worthy ham. The auction’s attendees also got to sample some of Clifty Farm Country Meats’ ham, and Miss Kentucky 2026, Reagan Earlywine, even took time to present the winning meat to the crowd of 1,600 people during the auction.

“Nothing compares to the energy and excitement of our annual Ham Breakfast,” KFB president Eddie Melton said in a press release.“Once a year, we’re proud to host an event that celebrates agriculture and allows folks from across the commonwealth to sit down together over breakfast and give back to communities across the state.”

This marks the fifth year the Crafts and Central Bank have combined their bids at the charity fundraising event. Their most recent joint bid totaled $10 million in 2025.

“As lifelong Kentuckians, Joe and I are proud to once again stand alongside Central Bank to lift up important causes across our commonwealth,” Kelly wrote in the press release. “We are grateful to Kentucky Farm Bureau for hosting this incredible event year after year, and for supporting the essential work of our farmers all year long.” 

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The Craft’s money will go toward the new Guilfoil Recreation Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County and the FFA chapters in Barren and Glasgow counties, and Central Bank’s bid is set to benefit educational, medical and other non-profit organizations including University of Kentucky Athletics, Markey Cancer Center, Revolving Affordable Housing Fund, Child Advocacy Center, the fair wrote in a press release.

This week’s $10 million ham wasn’t the only high-priced food item to go home from a state fair in recent months.

Four weeks prior, a 10-year-old Maryland boy won a local county fair auction with his handcrafted lemon blueberry buttercream cake.

Herbie Martin IV won the Carroll County 4-H and FFA Fair’s charity cake auction on Wednesday, Aug. 5, selling his cake for $15,000, according to The Baltimore Sun. The auction raised over $100,000 in total for future fairs and related programming.

“I won champion and grand champion,” Martin told The Baltimore Sun with a smile. “First place.”