No Heightened Security For Illinois State Fair Butter Cow

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 16, 2013 9:25PM

The Illinois State Fair closes Sunday but officials don't expect one of the event's most popular attractions to be vandalized like its Iowa counterpart. Illinois Department of Agriculture spokesman Jeff Squibb told the Pantagraph earlier this week security for Illinois' butter cow remains the same. The refrigerated dairy case holding the sculpture is locked at all times, the Fair's Dairy Building is locked at night and a 24/7 "Butter cam" keeps the cow under constant surveillanve.

Animal rights activists used red paint to vandalize the case holding the Iowa State Fair's Butter Cow last week.

The Illinois State Fair's butter cow has been an unofficial icon of the fair since the 1920's. 800 pounds of unsalted butter are used to sculpt the life size figure by hand over a wire and wood frame. The process takes about two days. After the fair, the butter will be removed and reused in another sculpture.This year's sculptor, New York-based Sharon BuMann, said she was inspired by a cow she saw standing in a puddle with a bird on its nose.