Garrard tobacco-cutting contest pays homage to golden leaf

(AMNews.com) In an annual ritual signifying the end of the summer growing season, older men followed a familiar path hewn by younger men through rows of golden tobacco leaves Thursday afternoon.
The young men were competitors in the 29th Garrard County Tobacco Cutting Contest, a battle for speed and accuracy that came down to what has become a predictable finish.
In the event at Roy Noe’s farm, Alvin Stamper of London edged out Garrard resident Daniel Edgington for the fifth year in a row, cutting 4.1 sticks (six plants each) per minute to Edgington’s 3.8. Continued

Image by Marion Post Wolcott, FSA, Library of Congress.