{"id":81783,"date":"2026-01-08T23:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T23:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81783\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T23:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T23:01:13","slug":"growing-a-nation-thematic-butter-sculpture-unveiling-kicks-off-2026-pennsylvania-farm-show-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81783\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Growing a nation\u2019: Thematic butter sculpture unveiling kicks off 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show | State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1599-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin-bottom: 10px;\"  \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:12px;\">\u201cA Toast to Our Nation\u2019s 250th Anniversary: Inspired by Founders. Grown by Farmers\u201d is the title of this year&#8217;s 1,000-pound butter sculpture unveiled Thursday ahead of the 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show. (Whitney Downard\/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)<\/p>\n<p>Dozens of fans and guests craned their necks and stood on tiptoes to catch a glimpse of this year\u2019s butter sculpture, a mammoth piece honoring Pennsylvania\u2019s role in the nation\u2019s founding 250 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican was born in Pennsylvania, and this identity is deeply rooted in agriculture,\u201d said state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding at Thursday\u2019s unveiling. \u201cIt\u2019s on all of us to stand here \u2026 (and) take time to look around, think about all of these farms and planting across the commonwealth who, every day, allow us to enjoy the life that we live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Made with 1,000 pounds of butter, this year\u2019s sculpture includes the likeness of the nation\u2019s founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia alongside the Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/penncapital-star.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1602-scaled.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-63952 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1602-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  \/><\/a>Jeff Felsing, of Butler, takes a picture of the iconic butter sculpture at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Jan. 8, 2026. (Whitney Downard\/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)<\/p>\n<p>Tilted, \u201cA Toast to Our Nation\u2019s 250th Anniversary: Inspired by Founders. Grown by Farmers,\u201d the work was designed and crafted by Jim Victor and Marie Pelton of Conshohocken, who have made 24 butter sculptures for the annual event.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be part of the tradition every year,\u201d said Victor. \u201cEspecially for this commemorative year, the 110th Farm show and the 250th anniversary of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The butter was donated by Land O\u2019Lakes in Cumberland County. When the Farm Show wraps up, it will be recycled at Reinford Farms in Juniata County, which will convert it into renewable energy in a methane digester.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 600,000 Pennsylvanians work in the agricultural industry, which contributes $132.5 billion to the state\u2019s economy annually, according to the state ag department.<\/p>\n<p>The event opens on Saturday, Jan. 10 and runs through Saturday, Jan. 17 at the largest agricultural expo in the nation, featuring thousands of animals and competitions. Admission is free, but parking costs $15 per vehicle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA Toast to Our Nation\u2019s 250th Anniversary: Inspired by Founders. Grown by Farmers\u201d is the title of this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[38286,2470,38198,12287,41247,41248,40057,20960,9196,41249,555,6040,28,30,29,25429],"class_list":["post-81783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-38286","tag-agriculture","tag-agriculture-pa-farms","tag-arts-culture","tag-betsy-ross","tag-butter","tag-butter-sculpture","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-food-industry","tag-founding-fathers","tag-liberty-bell","tag-natural-resources","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-primary-sector-of-the-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}