Usage Rights: All content is available for editorial use with attribution to MediaSource.
Ohio’s most-photographed dairy tradition just got more patriotic. The 2026 Ohio State Fair Butter Cow Display, presented by the American Dairy Association Mideast, celebrates America’s 250th birthday with a scene sculpted entirely from butter: the beloved butter cow and calf (the calf sporting a stars-and-stripes hat), a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, American and Ohio flags, and an “America 250” sign — all set against a butter fireworks sky.
Key facts for editors:
- First display housed in the fair’s newly renovated, air-conditioned Dairy Building.
- 2,100 pounds of butter sculpted over roughly 400 hours by a five-person Ohio artist team led by Paul Brooke of Cincinnati.
- New 2026 ice cream fair flavor, Star Spangled Swirl, debuts alongside the display.
- Draws more than 500,000 visitors annually and national media coverage each year.
- Marks more than a century of the fair’s most famous tradition.
“For generations, dairy farm families have been part of that story, working every day to nourish our communities while caring for their cows and the land,” says Jenny Crabtree, senior vice president of communications, American Dairy Association Mideast.