Butter Cow unveiled, State Fair favorite features Ohio inventors

COLUMBUS, Ohio – On behalf of Ohio’s dairy farmers, the 2023 butter cow display at the Ohio State Fair honors several notable Ohioans whose inventions improved lives around the world.

“Ohio has been home to many pioneers in science and technology over the last 200 years, and this year’s butter display celebrates that rich history of innovation by paying tribute to four inventors and their groundbreaking inventions,” said Jenny Crabtree, senior vice president of communications, American Dairy Association Mideast. 

Along with the traditional butter cow and calf, the display features butter sculptures of Thomas Edison with a light bulb and a phonograph, Garrett Morgan with a three-position traffic signal, Josephine Cochrane with a hand-powered dishwasher and James Spangler with a portable vacuum cleaner.  

The 2023 butter cow display was crafted from 2,000 pounds of butter by a team of Ohio-based sculptors in about 450 hours, of which 360 of those hours were spent inside the 46-degree cooler. Sculptors layer butter onto steel and wooden armatures and gradually refine their shape before chiseling in the fine details. Drawing inspiration from the theme, the sculptors used their own ingenuity to enhance this year’s butter display with innovative touches.

“The dishwasher sculpture actually has a transparent door on it so you can see inside, something we’ve never tried before,” said lead sculptor Paul Brooke. “And we incorporated electricity into the display to illuminate the light bulb and the traffic signal.”

Presented by the American Dairy Association Mideast, this year’s butter cow display’s is also a nod to the innovative spirit of Ohio’s dairy farmers, who are increasingly leveraging technology to make farms more efficient and sustainable.  For example, new technologies on dairy farms help turn cow manure into valuable resources, such as clean renewable energy, natural fertilizer and soft bedding for cows. 

About 500,000 fairgoers visit the Dairy Products Building each year to see the butter cow display and learn more about Ohio dairy farmers, while also enjoying ice cream, milkshakes and cheese sandwiches.