The Annual Tradition Continues, 800 Pounds of Butter Has Arrived at New York State Fair
Maybe the pandemic made last summer drag along or perhaps I’m just getting old, but where has summer 2021 gone? One sure sign we are in the latter stages of the Frog Days of Summer, 800 pounds of butter just just arrived at the New York State Fair and the sculpting has begun. Ever wonder how they make it? We’ll, here’s the story.
The 2021 fair will be the 53rd year The American Dairy Association North East has coordinated one of the most famous traditions of the annual event. And for the sculptors, Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, it will be the 19th time they have created the work of art. It will be unveiled Thursday, August 19, one day before the gates open on the Great New York State Fair.
The butter is created from over two-thousand gallons of milk and comes from Batavia, N.Y. based producer O-AT-KA Milk Products. While many of the Negative Nancie's spout what a waste of food, it as they say, "Fake News". The product used in the creative process is called, scrap butter, meaning it is not suitable for consumption.
Once the fair ends, the butter sculpture is recycled into energy. It's sent to Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion, N.Y. where they combine it with other food waste from grocery stores and universities. The process creates , where it goes into a digester along with other food waste from Wegmans stores and enough electricity to power about 350 homes for a year.
While the actual sculpting of butter takes about ten days to complete; Jim Victor says the creation begins much earlier. It starts with submitting a drawing for approval, then building armatures, shaping and welding wood and steel into a rough shape of each year's theme, and covering it with mesh.
Check out the video at the top as Jim and Marie explain how last year's sculpture was created. This year's sculpture will be unveiled on Thursday, August 19 and you can watch it live on American Dairy Association North East's Face Book page. It will be on display in the Dairy Products Building for the duration of the Fair through September 6.