Illinois State Fair unveils 800-pound butter cow sculpture

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — This year's Illinois State Fair butter cow is donning a construction hat in celebration of the 2019 theme, "Building Our Future."

Recycled butter was used to construct a hard hat, cow, construction cones, a hammer and letters spelling out "future." About 800 pounds of butter went into the sculpture.

"The butter cow is representative of something important that we are doing in the state of Illinois. It's rebuilding our state," Gov. JB Pritzker told The State Journal-Register Wednesday. "We've investing, of course, in our roads and our bridges and our infrastructure. We're rebuilding everything that's great about the state of Illinois, and it's represented in the sculpture of the butter cow."

It took Iowa artist Sarah Pratt five days to make the sculpture. The State Journal-Register reported she worked on it inside a 35-degree display case.

The Associated Press reported that the sculpture is on display, appropriately, at the Dairy Building. The butter cow has been a staple of the fair for nearly 100 years.

The Illinois State Fair is held Aug. 8 through 18.

Cox Media Group