By Mark Richardson
Ohio News Connection

The dairy industry is buttering up Ohioans at the State Fair this weekend to both entertain and inform them about the importance of agriculture to the state.

The American Dairy Association Mideast has decorated its pavilion with traditional butter sculptures featuring images of cows and calves wearing hard hats. One of the lead butter sculptors, Paul Brooke, said putting the display together is a major undertaking.

“We start with a plan,” he said. “We build the armatures. We have the butter delivered. It comes room temperature before we get here, so it’s soft and ready to go onto the armature. If we’re doing animals, we like to get all the anatomy right – and then we go for the detail.”

The Ohio dairy industry contributes $31 billion a year to the state’s economy and employs about 132,000 people. Dairy farmers not only produce more than 5 billion pounds of milk each year but are also working to farm more sustainably and protect natural resources.

The fair runs through Sunday at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.

This year’s display was crafted from 2,000 pounds of butter by a team of six Ohio-based sculptors. They spent more than 400 hours on the display, working mostly inside a 46-degree cooler.

Jenny Crabtree, senior vice president for communications at the American Dairy Association Mideast, said the historic Dairy Products Building is also getting a facelift.

“On the renderings of the renovations that are taking place, you’ll see that the butter cow cooler is actually moving to the center of the building and will be recessed,” she said, “giving more space to visitors and a better fairgoer experience.”

The butter cow display attracts more than 500,000 visitors at the Ohio State Fair each year, gaining nationwide recognition and media attention. Crabtree said it’s a long-standing tradition for the more than 1,300 Ohio dairy farm families.

Pictured at top: Lead sculptor Paul Brooke of Cincinnati works on a sculpture of a construction worker in this year’s butter display at the Ohio State Fair. (American Dairy Association Mideast)