State Fair Butter Sculpture Celebrates Yearround Production of Milk

Milk is one of the only farm products produced yearround in New York state and this year's New York State Fair butter sculpture pays homage to that fact.

The sculpture was unveiled Wednesday morning in the Dairy Products Building at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes. 

The fair opens its 12-day run Thursday, Aug. 22.

Made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter from O-At-Ka Milk in Batavia, the sculpture shows children in the four seasons of New York, eating and drinking dairy products while a cow Statue of Liberty holding an ice cream torch and wheel of cheese looks down on them all.

Also shown is Niagara Falls, city skyscrapers and majestic mountains such as the Adirondacks and Catskills. The four children are an ice skater drinking hot chocolate, a boy going to school eating some cheese, a girl in a bathing suit eating yogurt and a boy with flowers drinking a smoothie.

"It was a lot of work," said artist Jim Victor, of Conshohocken, Pa. "I don't know if it was the hardest I've ever done, but it was one of the most difficult."

Victor and Marie Pelton, also of Conshohocken, have created the State Fair's sculpture since 2003. This year's creation is the 45th annual butter sculpture at the state fair.