(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Eight hundred pounds of salted Illinois butter — some of it recycled — comprise the butter cow sculpture at this year’s state fair.
Sarah Pratt’s blue-ribbon work, which depicts a cow cuddled by a human, evokes this year’s theme of “Embracing Tradition.”
Illinois State Fair officials, led by Gov. JB Pritzker, unveiled the butter art on Wednesday afternoon, the day before the opening of the 2021 fair.
Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Kelsi Kessler sought to upstate the butter cow with various puns, including:
—“What an udder delight to be here!"
—“You'd butter believe fairgoers are excited!"
—“I'm not gonna milk any more time up here"
She left little margarine for error.
Pritzker said a mask mandate for all indoor fair activities, and for anywhere there is a crowd, will help make the 2021 fair a safe event. Last year's fair -- and the butter cow tradition -- were a no-go because of COVID-19.
Can't make it to Springfield? There is a webcam trained on the butter cow.
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