COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The American Dairy Association Mideast unveiled the 2023 butter cow sculpture Tuesday, and it's a tribute to Ohioans who have changed the world with their inventions.
The display is made from 2,000 pounds of butter and features innovators including Thomas Edison, Garrett Morgan, Josephine Cochrane and James Spangler. The display, which took sculptors about 450 hours to craft, also showcases their most impactful inventions next to the butter cow and calf.
Erin Birum, of Columbus, carves the fine details into the sculpture of Ohio inventor Josephine Cochrane. A team of Ohio-based sculptors spent 360 hours in a 46-degree cooler to create this year’s butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
Sculptors used approximately 2,000 pounds of butter to create the 2023 butter cow display. It took approximately 450 hours to complete the sculpture and 360 of those hours were dedicated to sculpting inside the 46-degree cooler. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
Tammy Buerk, of West Chester, works on the butter calf sculpture for the American Dairy Association Mideast’s butter cow display. The attraction is one of the best-kept secrets leading up to the Ohio State Fair, a tradition that has been around since the early 1900s. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
Paul Brooke is the lead sculptor for the American Dairy Association Mideast’s butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair. Brooke, of Cincinnati, has been part of the creative work for the past 20 years. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
James Spangler and the first electric, portable vacuum cleaner are sculpted in butter in this year’s butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair. Spangler invented the vacuum cleaner while working as a janitor in Canton. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
The 2023 butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair celebrates Ohio’s rich history of innovation and features several notable Ohio inventors alongside their groundbreaking inventions. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
A life-size butter sculpture of Josephine Cochrane, who was born in Ashtabula County, stands beside her invention, the hand-powered dishwasher, in this year’s butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
Garrett Morgan, who moved to Ohio when he was a teenager, is sculpted in butter alongside his invention, the three-position traffic signal, in this year’s butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair. (Courtesy/ American Dairy Association Mideast)
According to the release, the sculptors channeled the ingenuity of the innovators by lighting up the butter sculptures of the traffic signal, that was created by Garrett Morgan, and the lightbulb, invented by Thomas Edison.
The Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville, were not included in the 2023 display. The duo were already featured back in the 2003 Butter Cow Display, which honored their first flight.
