As the Ohio Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jim Tressel, Ohio Expo Center & State Fair General Manager Adam Heffron, and members of the Ohio Expositions Commission prepare to cut the ribbon at the new, state-of-the-art entry gate (Cardinal Gate) to open the 170th Ohio State Fair on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, the American Dairy Association Mideast held a media preview Tuesday with the unveiling of the annual, iconic Butter Sculpture Display.
This year’s butter display features the iconic butter cow and calf wearing butter hard hats with a cheerful message to fairgoers: “Pardon Our Dust!” indicating the major renovations underway across the fairgrounds, including in the historic Dairy Products Building, the home of the butter cow and calf.
They are joined by three life-size butter construction workers: one operating a jackhammer, another studying blueprints, and a third talking into a two-way radio. The construction scene also includes scaffolding, sawhorses, safety cones and a “Pardon Our Dust” sign – all sculpted in butter!
When renovations are completed next year, the century-old Dairy Products Building will offer a more comfortable experience for fairgoers, with long-awaited upgrades including air conditioning, new amenities and a larger kitchen.
This year’s display was crafted from 2,000 pounds of butter by a group of Ohio-based sculptors. The team is led by Paul Brooke of Cincinnati and includes Tammy Buerk of Oregonia, Erin Birum of Columbus, dairy farmer Matt Davidson of Sidney, Joe Metzler of Hamilton and Gabriela Schmidt of Akron. Together, they spent approximately 400 hours creating the display, including about 335 hours working inside the 46-degree cooler.
The Butter Cow was first sculpted in a contest at the Ohio State Fair in 1903. Themed elements joined the cow and calf in the 1960s. That theme is closely held secret until fair time! A team of Ohio artists have been working nearly 400 hours, most of it in a cooler at 46 degrees, to create the masterpiece from 2,000 pounds of butter. After the fair, the butter is recycled and refined into an ingredient used in a variety of non-edible products. Ohio is home to about 1,350 dairy farms.
The fair will end on Sunday August 3, 2025.
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