New York State Fair Obtains Sponsors for Fair's Butter Sculpture, Milk Bar

From the New York State Fair:

Two companies with significant ties to New York state agriculture will sponsor the signature attractions at the Great New York State Fair’s Dairy Products Building.  

Tully’s Good Times restaurants will sponsor the milk sold at the fair’s famous Milk Bar, while Wegmans Food Markets will sponsor the American Dairy Association’s Butter Sculpture, Acting Fair Director Troy Waffner announced June 9.

This year, the Tully’s logo will appear on each of the seven-ounce cups of perfectly chilled white or chocolate milk sold at the Milk Bar. Last year, 398,059 cups of milk were sold at 25 cents a cup, representing a complete sellout of the milk available.  

All of the milk and buttermilk products sold at Tully’s come from Central New York dairy processor Byrne Dairy. Byrne Dairy also supplies the milk for the Milk Bar.  

In addition to dairy, Tully’s buys produce from local farms in-season. The long-time Fair vendor operates restaurants across Upstate NY under the Tully’s, CopperTop Tavern and Good Buddy’s Pub brands.

The Butter Sculpture is created and operated by Syracuse-based American Dairy Association North East, which represents all dairy farmers in New York state. The butter used to make the iconic sculpture comes from New York sources. 

It was a first stop for many of the fair’s more than 1 million visitors in 2016 and veteran fairgoers eagerly await its unveiling the day before the fair opens each year. This year’s sponsor of the Butter Sculpture, Rochester-based Wegmans, is a leader in the grocery industry in selling and using locally grown and made products and is annually rated among the nation’s very best employers.  

"These new partnerships are an exciting addition to this year's fair and to the Milk Bar, which is a long-standing tradition for fairgoers," said Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball. "We are pleased to continue our mission of promoting the very best of New York agriculture and shining the spotlight on our dairy industry at Great New York State Fair."

“We are proud to bring these first-ever sponsorships into the Dairy Products Building as they will support our long-term plan to reenergize this vital piece of the fair," said Waffner. 

"We thank them for their investment and want fairgoers and dairy farmers to know that our goal going forward, as stewards of New York agriculture, is to find new ways to link more New Yorkers to our great dairy products as we have done with other New York products at the fair,”  Waffner said.