2015 Butter Sculpture Unveiled at the New York State Fair

"Thanks for the Milk, Moo York," the 2015 New York State Fair butter sculpture

You can call this “Great American Milk Drive – Part Two.”

This year’s New York State Fair butter sculpture was unveiled Wednesday morning and it is a thank you for everyone throughout New York who has donated milk to needy families through the Great American Milk Drive.

The sculpture is called “Thanks for the Milk, Moo York.” The 2014 State Fair sculpture kicked off the Great American Milk Drive, which resulted in more than 22,000 gallons of milk being donated in the state.

Made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter from O-At-Ka Milk in Batavia, the sculpture shows a dairy farmer, milk processor and retailer each holding gallons of milk. There also are key New York state elements behind them, such as Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty and the Carrier Dome.

The sculpture is one of the most popular sites to visit during the 12-day New York State Fair. It is in the Dairy Products Building at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes.

The fair opens Thursday, Aug. 27 and goes through Labor Day, Sept. 7. This is the 47th annual butter sculpture at the state fair.

“We live in one of the top producing milk states in the country, yet many families aren’t getting the nutritious, wholesome milk they want to provide for their children,” said dairy farmer Sarah Noble-Moag, of Pavilion. “The Great American Milk Drive helps draw attention to that need and makes it easy for people to donate, both in store and on line,” she said.

This is the 13th year artists Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, Pa., have worked on the sculpture. This is probably the tallest sculpture they have done, since the top of one of the milk bottles in the piece is only about a quarter inch from the top of the butter sculpture’s refrigerated room.

“It’s 77 inches high,” Ms. Pelton said. "In 2012, the sculpture about Greek yogurt during the summer of the Olympics was 2 inches below the grate.”

As part of the Great American Milk Drive and thanking people for their previous donations, the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council, which sponsors the butter sculpture, also is asking people to donate extra quarters when they buy their cup of milk at the fair’s Rainbow Milk Bar.

The additional donations will go toward purchasing milk for food banks and food pantries so needy families can obtain milk. The Rainbow Milk Bar also is in the Dairy Products Building and serves delicious, cold glasses of white or chocolate milk for 25 cents.

The Dairy Association and Dairy Council also is conducting an Instagram Selfie Contest to help spread the word about the need for milk donations. Take a selfie in front of the butter sculpture with your cup of milk from the Rainbow Milk Bar and tag it “givemilktoo.”

Each day of the fair, one winner will be selected to receive a $50 gift card for dairy products and a $50 donation will be made to a local food bank to help it purchase milk.

One second prize winter will win an Apple Watch. And one grand prize winner will receive an Ultimate Buffalo Bills Fan Weekend package, including access to pre-game practice, an overnight hotel stay in Buffalo and four club tickets to watch the Bills take on the Houston Texans.

Go to www.adadc.com for more contest information.