Weighing a whopping 1,000 pounds, the splendor of this year's butter sculpture featured in the 2024 Pennsylvania Farm Show was revealed in an unveiling ceremony last Thursday, Jan. 4, broadcasted live on the show's official Facebook page.
Connecting Pennsylvania Through Wholesome Produce
The dairy diorama, dubbed "A Table for All: Pennsylvania Dairy Connects Communities" was designed and sculpted by Jims Victor and Marie Pelton, both of whom are from the town of Conshohocken.
According to the state's Agriculture Secretary, Russell Redding, who spoke in the ceremony, the sculptor duo had made it with the farm show's current theme of "Connecting Our Communities" in mind.
"Pennsylvania's $14 billion dairy industry provides jobs to 53,000 Pennsylvanians and makes up a third of our state's food agriculture industry. " the secretary said. "Our hardworking dairy farm families are connecting Pennsylvanians to opportunity and feeding our prosperity together."
The chiseled butter piece shows a scene of urban and rural Pennsylvanians gathered around a table conversing and connecting, with the city's silhouette and its farmlands' skyline acting as the backdrop.
Walt Moore, a PA dairy farmer and outgoing chair of the Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence, also spoke during the unveiling, saying, " This year's butter sculpture illustrates the important connection between farmers and their local communities."
Moore also expressed his pride in PA's "wholesome" products' ability to bring people close together. "Agriculture plays an important role in all of our lives," he adds.
The piece itself is a sponsored commission from the American Dairy Association North East and the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. Once the show is finished, the butter sculpture will be collected and recycled as renewable energy in the Reinford Farms' methane digester.
This year's iteration of the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show will formally open to the public this upcoming Saturday, Jan. 6, until the following week on Jan. 13. The event will be held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.
Admission is free, however, a parking fee of $15 will be present at the venue. For more information, click here.
