BATAVIA, N.Y. — The Great New York State Fair kicks off on Wednesday, but the day before it begins, fair organizers will unveil this year's butter sculpture — and there's a Western New York connection.
For more than 50 years, O-At-Ka Milk Products Cooperative Inc. has provided hundreds of pounds of butter to create the work of art. This year 800 pounds was trucked down the Thruway to the fairgrounds for artists to model and sculpt. Don't worry, it's not food waste.
"We have specific specifications for our butter, and this didn't meet all of those [for sale], so we're able to provide that for this sculpture to make some beautiful art," said Joe Steinocher, director of operations at the O-At-Ka plant.
O-At-Ka Milk Products is part of the Upstate Niagara Cooperative, which is comprised of about 260 farm owners. The plant takes in millions of pounds of milk each day and processes it.
"Well a lot of people think we make cartons of milk. We actually don't. We do a lot of things, from powdered milk for ingredients, evaporated milk. We do butter," said Steinocher.
It takes 1600 pounds of cream to make 800 pounds of butter.
The butter sculpture helps to highlight the dairy industry and all of the people who keep it going.
"It's an awesome opportunity to see everyone's hard work showcased in a different way. Everyone knows there are a lot of people on farms and a lot of people working in plants to make the products they consume, but it's just a really cool way for it to be on display for everyone in the state to see," said Steinocher.
Sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton are the artists behind this year's butter sculpture. It takes them about 11 days to complete.
"We have the ability to change the temperature in the room there. We start with it a little warmer which is going to help us build the sculpture faster," said Pelton. "We love to be able to be a part of that story, to help bring more notoriety to their hard work and what they do and what they contribute to anyone's daily life."
The butter sculpture is on display in the dairy products building for the duration of the fair, and once the fair is done, the butter sculpture will make its way back to Western New York to be recycled.
"About 15 miles from [Batavia], the Noblehurst Farms in Pavilion, they have a digester. They will take that butter, and they will put it in the digester. It will actually create electricity. They will reuse that in a sustainable way," said Steinocher.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/AmericanDairyNE/ to watch when the American Dairy Association North East unveils this year's butter sculpture on Tuesday, August 22.