Midwest Dairy Helps Celebrate 100 Years of the Butter Cow « Back

ANKENY, Iowa – What “butter” way to begin the 2011 Iowa State Fair than with ice cream and cake to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Iowa State Fair’s “Butter Cow?”

In recognition of the Fair’s salute to the Butter Cow milestone, Midwest Dairy Association will serve the popular treat during the unveiling of the 100th Butter Cow of the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 11 at 8:30 a.m. outside the John Deere Agriculture Building. Iowa Dairy Princess Kendra Moser of Coleburg will be on hand to greet those attending on behalf of Iowa’s dairy farmers. 

The commemorative event is also a special salute to the late Norma “Duffy” Lyon of Toledo, Iowa. The first female butter sculptor of the Iowa State Fair, Lyon began sculpting the Butter Cow in 1960 and persisted for 46 years. For many fair-goers, she is and will remain the “Butter Cow Lady.”

Sarah Pratt, of West Des Moines, assumed the title of butter sculptor in 2006, and serves as the fifth butter sculptor of the Iowa State Fair. Pratt, like her predecessor, uses a wood, metal, wire and steel mesh frame, and 600 pounds of butter to gradually construct a butter version of a life-size cow. Typically, cows weigh more than 1,000 pounds, but this sculpture will be the appropriate dimensions of 5-1/2 feet high and 8 feet long. Since 1996, the Butter Cow has had an Iowa State Fair-sponsored companion butter sculpture in the cooler. Such sculptures typically pay tribute to national icons, such as Elvis Presley in 1997 or the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon in 2009.

Unique to this year’s fair is the addition of butter sculpting contests. Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) has donated multiple 55-pound blocks of butter to the fair. Each day of the fair, at 4 p.m. on the Ann and Bill Riley Stage, three teams will have 30 minutes to carve something creative and original in a contest known as “Battle of the Butter.” Each winning team’s butter sculpture will be displayed next to the Butter Cow in the John Deere Agriculture Building.

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Midwest Dairy Association is a non-profit organization funded by dairy farmers to build demand for dairy products through integrated marketing, nutrition education and research. Midwest Dairy is funded by checkoff dollars from dairy farmers in a 10-state region, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.midwestdairy.com. Follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook at Midwest Dairy.