{"id":324761,"date":"2026-08-19T08:05:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324761\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:05:27","slug":"new-york-state-fair-butter-sculpture-starts-taking-shape-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324761\/","title":{"rendered":"New York State Fair butter sculpture starts taking shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geddes, N.Y. \u2014 The most closely guarded 800 pounds of butter in Central New York have arrived.<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s not for the baked potatoes.<\/p>\n

The butter was delivered to the Dairy Products Building at the New York State Fairgrounds, where sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton have already begun the annual ritual of turning a massive pile of dairy product into one of the fair\u2019s most popular attractions.<\/p>\n

What are they making? <\/p>\n

Nice try.<\/p>\n

The design of the 58th annual New York State Fair<\/a> butter sculpture will remain a secret until it is unveiled Tuesday, Aug. 25, one day before the fair opens.<\/p>\n

Until then, Victor and Pelton are spending their days and nights inside a refrigerated studio, carving, shaping and smoothing 800 pounds of butter while the rest of us are left to guess what\u2019s going on behind the curtain.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve gotten pretty good at keeping secrets.<\/p>\n

This is the 24th consecutive state fair butter sculpture for Victor and Pelton, who started their run together in 2003. They expect to spend about 11 days on this year\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

The butter itself comes from O-AT-KA Milk Products in Batavia. It\u2019s butter that, for a variety of reasons, doesn\u2019t meet specifications for retail sale. Rather than send it to waste, the American Dairy Association North East puts it to considerably more artistic use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe butter sculpture has become one of The New York State Fair\u2019s most cherished traditions because it tells the story of our state\u2019s dairy farm families in a way that\u2019s both creative and memorable,\u201d said John Chrisman, CEO of American Dairy Association North East.<\/p>\n

The sculpture has been a fair tradition since 1969<\/a>, when William Clements carved a dairy princess and butter churn.<\/p>\n

Over the years, butter has been transformed into everything from disco dancers and marathon runners to Darryl Strawberry, the Wizard of Oz, a pizza tosser and a cow jumping over the moon.<\/p>\n

\"2025The 2025 New York State butter sculpture was unveiled this morning in the Dairy Products Building. This year’s theme is “Dairy For Good: Nourish. Grow. Thrive.” (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)<\/p>\n

Twice, actually. Apparently jumping over the moon was worth an encore.<\/p>\n

Victor and Pelton took over in 2003 and have handled the job every year since, tackling themes involving dairy farming, nutrition, sports and New York life.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s subject remains under wraps. One thing we do know: The butter has plans after the fair.<\/p>\n

When the 13-day run ends, the sculpture will be dismantled and shipped back to Western New York. Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion will feed the used butter into an anaerobic digester, where it will be converted into renewable energy.<\/p>\n

\"NYSThe 800 pounds of butter that made the 2025 New York State Fair’s sculpture was stripped away Tuesday and is on its way to becoming energy. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)<\/p>\n

The farm processes more than 500 tons of food waste each month and generates enough energy to power its operation and more than 300 homes. The butter sculpture alone can produce enough energy to power one house for about three days.<\/p>\n

So, to recap: It starts as butter that can\u2019t be sold, spends nearly two weeks posing for thousands of photos and eventually helps keep somebody\u2019s lights on.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a pretty productive retirement.<\/p>\n

Before any of that happens, though, Victor and Pelton have 800 pounds of butter, a refrigerated room and a secret to keep.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll find out what they\u2019re up to next Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Butter sculptures through the years:<\/p>\n

1969: Cow Jumping Over the Moon (William Clements)1970: Dairy Princess and Butter Churn (William Clements)1971: Commissioner of Agriculture and Cow (William Clements)1972: Lifeguard and Girl (William Clements)1973: Dairy Princess Coronation (William Clements)1974: Carousel (William Clements)1975: Juggler (William Clements)1976: Little Miss Muffet (William Clements)1977: The Magic Cow (William Clements)1978: Kids on Skateboards (William Clements)1979: Disco Dancers (William Clements)1980: Milk Run Marathoners (William Clements)1981: The \u201cReal\u201d Seal (William Clements)1982: Dairy Do-Si-Do (William Clements)1983: The Fitness Cycle (William Clements)1984: Milk Bottle Centennial (William Clements)1985: Soccer Player (William Clements)1986: Darryl Strawberry (William Clements)1987: Tom Sawyer (Raymond Mackintosh)1988: Cow Jumping Over the Moon (Raymond Mackintosh)1989: Wizard of Oz (Raymond Mackintosh)1990: Original Fair Arch (Raymond Mackintosh)1991: Boy with Double Dip Cone (Raymond Mackintosh)1992: The Olympic Dream (Raymond Mackintosh)1993: Kids from Camp Good Days & Special Times (Raymond Mackintosh)1994: Pizza Tosser (Raymond Mackintosh)1995: Everybody Loves Milk & Cookies (Duke Epolito)1996: Everything\u2019s Better With Butter (Sharon BuMann)1997: The Ultimate \u201cgot milk\u201d Moment (Sharon BuMann)1998: Milk Memories (Sharon BuMann)1999: Midnight Snacking (Sharon BuMann)2000: Little Rascals (Sharon BuMann)2001: Milk Maid: Queen for a Day (Sharon BuMann)2002: The Pride of New York (Sharon BuMann)2003: Mixin\u2019 It With Milk (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2004: Love for the Land (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2005: Milk, Moms and Morning (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2006: Healthy Goals (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2007: Dairy Farming Today (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2008: Cow Jumping Over the Moon (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2009: Cow Power (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2010: Dairyville 2020 (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2011: Feeding Our Future (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2012: New York Goes for the Gold with Greek Yogurt (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2013: Getting Fresh with Local Dairy (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2014: The Great American Milk Drive (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2015: Thanks for the Milk, Moo York! (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2016: Milk Life Celebrates The Success of Team USA and the Athletes of New York State (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2017: Dairy Farmers\u2019 Tribute to New York State Troopers (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2018: Your Milk Comes From A Good Place (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2019: Milk. Love What\u2019s Real (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2020: Nourishing Our Future (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2021: Back to School, Sports and Play \u2026 You\u2019re Gonna Need Milk for That (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2022: Refuel Her Greatness\u2014Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Title IX (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2023: Dairy Every Day is a Healthy Way \u2014 Keeping Kids\u2019 Health on Track (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2024: Dairy: Good for you. Good for the planet. (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)2025: Dairy for Good: Nourish. Grow. Thrive. (Jim Victor and Marie Pelton)<\/a>2026: TBD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geddes, N.Y. \u2014 The most closely guarded 800 pounds of butter in Central New York have arrived. No,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-324761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}