The annual butter display, one of the best-kept secrets at the Ohio State Fair each year, has been unveiled. This year?s display is a salute to chocolate milk, the official beverage of Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA). Inside the dairy cooler, the traditional butter cow and calf is joined by a larger-than-life bottle of chocolate milk, along with four high school athletes.
?On behalf of Ohio?s dairy farmers, the American Dairy Association Mideast is proud to partner with OHSAA to help student athletes perform their best,? said Jenny Hubble, senior vice president of communications for ADA Mideast. ?Chocolate milk is the ideal beverage for student athletes, as well as for their fans, because it contains nine essential nutrients to give them the fuel they need to stay at the top of their game.?
The six-foot bottle of chocolate milk featured in the butter display gets its creamy, chocolatey color from cocoa powder that?s mixed with the butter. It?s the first time the sculptors have ever added color to their masterpiece.
?We wanted the sculpture to really look like a delicious bottle of chocolate milk, so we decided to test out a small batch of butter by adding a pinch of cocoa powder,? said Alex Balz, one of the lead butter sculptors. ?It created this beautiful brown color that looked perfect when we applied it to the sculpture.?
The butter cow debuted at the Ohio State Fair in the early 1900s and found a permanent ?home? in the Dairy Products Building in the 1920s; themes were added in the 1960s. Sculptors made this year?s display from more than 2,000 pounds of butter, donated in part by the Dairy Farmers of America, and completed it in about 500 hours. The butter sculptures are maintained at 46 degrees. The energy-efficient refrigerated display case is 36 feet long by 11 feet wide.
This year, fairgoers can show their enthusiasm about this year?s display with a Snapchat geofilter. They can snap cell phone selfies with the app in the Dairy Products Building and then choose the butter cow filter.
The butter sculptures are on display in the Dairy Products Building at the Ohio State Fair from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. each day. Fairgoers can also learn about Ohio dairy farmers and enjoy treats like ice cream, milkshakes and cheese sandwiches.
