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Iowa State Fair Butter Cow sculptor shapes a new family tradition
How Duffy Lyon’s protege became teacher of 2 apprentices — her daughters
Aug. 15, 2024 5:30 am, Updated: Aug. 15, 2024 11:25 am
- In 2006, Sarah Pratt took over sculpting the Iowa State Fair's Butter Cow, after years as a protege under predecessor Norma "Duffy" Lyon.
- For the last 7 years, Sarah's twin daughters have been learning the craft they hope to inherit one day.
- The iconic display's cross-generational appeal has endured because of how it encapsulates an evolving tradition.
- Together, they have all shaped the same butter Lyon last used, which hasn't been changed since 2005.
DES MOINES — Since its debut in 1911, the Iowa State Fair’s Butter Cow has involved about 600 pounds of pure cream butter, four hoofs and a couple handfuls of buttery fingers.
In those 113 years, the tools of the trade for its sculptors haven’t changed much — with one notable exception. Since Toledo native Sarah Pratt took over in 2006, the number of hands directly involved in the craft has tripled.
Throughout the cow’s history, the craft traditionally has been passed on from one master sculptor to just one apprentice. Now, with Pratt’s twin daughters seven years into their apprenticeships, the butter bovine’s heritage is a family tradition.
How it started
Today, the life-size cow sculpture beloved by hundreds of thousands of visitors is the product of 30 buttery fingers — those of the Pratts. So perhaps it makes sense that Pratt’s inauguration to the craft was the result of a little teenage clumsiness.
With an interest in arts and crafts of all kinds, the current butter sculptor was about 14 when she stumbled into the butter cooler where the sculpture is created and displayed.
After dropping off her 4-H art project in 1991, Pratt became enamored with the living, breathing projects her friend got to show at the Iowa State Fair. She tried to help with washing, leading cows to the milking parlor and other chores. But those chores didn’t go smoothly for her.
“I desperately wanted to be a farm girl,” Pratt said. “One thing after another led to a catastrophe.”
So she was sent to then-butter sculptor Norma “Duffy” Lyon, a fellow Toledo resident she knew from church. As Pratt washed buckets, ran errands and got Lyon food, the artist saw something in her that others may have overlooked: a good work ethic.
Pratt was far from the only one Lyon mentored. But by the time the apprentice was a college junior, Lyon was counting on her as the protege who would pick up the mantle for the iconic state heritage.
“My perception was that I did everything she asked me to do, and I didn’t complain,” Pratt said. “Other people would help, and get to a point and wouldn’t want to wash buckets.”
In 1997, after suffering from a stroke, Lyon publicly named Pratt as her eventual successor in a Des Moines Register interview — something she hadn’t even confirmed with her successor.
Pratt would continue to stay involved most years as she finished college, became a special-education teacher, got married and had children. And while the insecure 20-something would make excuses to delay the inevitable, Lyon would always coax her back in.
For the introvert, being in front of others wasn’t her forte. But since she took the baton, she’s found new perspective in the craft.
“It didn’t feel like I was doing this for me,” she said. “It felt like I was doing this for her.”
The next generation
Now, the student has become the teacher — and not just to her elementary and middle school students in West Des Moines.
“I love her not only for her joy for what she does, but that she’s so willing to help others learn about what she’s doing,” said Jeremy Parsons, chief executive officer of the Iowa State Fair. “For Sarah, it’s more than a job. She’s passing on the craft to the next generation.”
Besides the traditional Butter Cow, the display includes other butter-crafted characters that this year convey a “Tonight Show” theme with ties to Iowa.
On the first day this month of the 2024 fair, as daughter Hannah Pratt put the finishing touches on show announcer — and Des Moines native — Steve Higgins’ shoe, she talked about filling another pair of shoes.
Hannah and her twin, Grace, 20, have been playing with the recycled butter since they were 3. Then, it was their “Play-Doh.” Today, it’s their clay.
“We’ve only ever known the butter cooler. It wasn’t until fourth grade … that we realized this wasn’t a normal thing,” Hannah said. “This has become such a family thing that if we didn’t do it, it would feel weird — like something’s missing.”
As children and young teenagers, the interest was churned by making small accessories their mother placed proudly in the cooler. As they evolved into young adults now studying the arts at the University of Northern Iowa, they got comfortable enough in their skills to start playing pranks.
“Grace and I will make these tiny little (butter) top hats and sneak them onto all the people, characters and animals,” Hannah said. “It drives Mom crazy.”
With the daughters’ full intentions of taking over when their mom retires, the sculptures have become a balance of passion and tradition. Unlike many children pressured to follow in their parents’ footsteps, the twins said it has never felt like an obligation.
Unlike the classes they’ve taken in high school and college, this art project has been about instilling collaboration — something that will serve the duo well.
“We want to share the tradition, but not hold on so tightly we can’t create something new,” Sarah Pratt said. “We want everyone who comes to the fair to see themselves in the sculpture and relate to it.”
For the cow sculpture’s entire history, the tradition has been passed from one person to another. When Pratt decides it’s time, the Butter Cow will be passed from one master to two.
“All the emotions you’d think are involved in teaching your child a craft are there,” Parsons said. “I know Sarah has so much pride in that and what her daughters are going to accomplish in the future.”
The artistic process
Crafting a cow large enough to butter the equivalent of 19,000 pieces of toast takes Pratt about 40 to 60 hours. But when the entire project is all done, the product visitors see through glass is the result of about 400 hours of work.
Pratt spends about 80 hours reading articles, watching films and listening to audio clips of the people she depicts. Researching the cow itself, which has evolved like humans over time, entails watching online dairy shows and learning about various breeds.
“With that shift, I’ve found even more immense joy and a personal connection,” she said. “That’s helped me a lot as an artist.”
Armature framework, which Pratt also makes from scratch each year, is layered with butter that hasn’t been replaced since 2005. With a more pliable texture and less of the moisture that poses mold risks, older butter is actually preferable for the artist.
It’s the same butter than Lyon’s hands last touched before concluding her last year.
“It feels like we’re interconnected,” Pratt said.
In addition to her work at the Iowa State Fair, she manages sculptures for the Illinois State Fair, the Kansas State Fair and Reno Rodeo in Nevada. This year, she transitioned to teaching part-time to further pursue her artistry.
Companion sculptures, which vary each year, usually take twice as long. By spring break every school year, her list of ideas is narrowed down to three contenders.
This year’s companions include a trio from The Tonight Show: Jimmy Fallon, current host; announcer Higgins; and former host Johnny Carson, who was born in Iowa.
“It’s only in Iowa, perhaps, that being carved out of butter at the state’s largest event is a marker of your notoriety,” Parsons said.
After several Emmy nominations and one win, Higgins never considered being immortalized in dairy form.
“It’s odder than winning an Emmy. It’s the thing you grew up with your whole life, and you didn’t think that was an option,” he told The Gazette.
“My mom saw me get on (Saturday Night Live) and (with Jimmy Fallon) … but gosh, I wish she was here to see this.”
Parsons said the legendary display’s appeal has endured precisely because of how it encapsulates tradition and evolution into one.
The lifelike accuracy contributes to the novelty’s success, too. Higgins appreciated the likeness of him and Fallon in butter, saying it articulated the skill of the Pratts.
“I’m glad they made me slim,” he joked.
The butter used to mold animals and humans is pliable. But now, the Iowa tradition is being cemented in new ways for future generations.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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