In 1881, historian James Wilson commented on the then-new Iowa State Fair, noting that “one of the most valuable effects of the State Fair is the fraternizing, humanizing consequences of bringing all [Iowans] together.”

The State Fair is a staple of Iowa culture. For ISU students, the fair represents nearly everything the university prides itself upon.

Although you’d like to think of yourself as more urban and sophisticated than a sheltered farm kid, the truth is the State Fair is the pinnacle representation of Iowa and ISU culture: Tractor pulls, livestock shows, country music concerts and life-size butter sculptures.

Duffy

While butter sculptures aren’t a common part of everyday Iowan life, they are one of the most popular exhibits at the fair. Most fairgoers take a trip to the Agriculture Building, where at any given time, nearly 100 people are pressed up against the see-through cooler that houses the famous butter cow.

They see Norma “Duffy” Lyon, the fair’s butter sculptor, hard at work on a new two-ton piece of processed fat turned masterpiece. Each year, she creates two sculptures: a cow and a second image that changes annually. Her past achievements include Garth Brooks, John Wayne, Charlie Brown and a full-sized replica of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”. This year’s sculpture is a life-size Harley Davidson.

Duffy, who has made a different butter sculpture at the fair since 1960, is one of Iowa State’s most visible fairgoers. She was first recognized as an artist by accident at Iowa State. In 1948, she was a sophomore in animal science, and during that same winter, she and her sorority sisters created a large snow sculpture of a horse-drawn sleigh. The sculpture which caught the eye of internationally renowned artist Christian Petersen.

Petersen was the nation’s first campus artist-in-residence, coming to Iowa State in the Depression to participate in a federally funded Public Works of Art Project and staying on to sculpt and teach until 1961.

Petersen allowed Duffy to take two quarters of his art classes, even without the necessary prerequisites. Petersen’s teaching had an impact on Duffy’s sculpting style and her self-image as an artist, she said.

“Petersen wasn’t a formal instructor, and he wasn’t an overly strange person like some artists can be. He was very simple in his designs. If he sculpted the butter cow instead of me, there would be less muscle definition,” Duffy said. “However, I like definition in my sculptures, because I’m more detail-oriented.”

Duffy said she tries to emulate Petersen’s artistic humility.

“[Like Petersen], I never tried to elevate myself,” she said. “I’m a housewife and a mother — that’s what I’ve always been and that’s what I’ll always be.”

Duffy said she realizes it’s difficult to take herself too seriously when she’s known as “The Butter Cow Lady.” While some people wouldn’t be excited to go by her title, Duffy said she always found the phrase appropriate.

“My title is simple in a colloquial way,” she said. “I’d rather come off as a down-to-earth person than as some sort of artiste.”

The 73-year-old grandmother has been going strong for decades, but is considering retiring in a year or two. While she loves her work, she said she has many reasons for throwing in the butter knife.

“I’m running out of new ideas for sculptures; my health is getting poor — it takes me twice as long to sculpt as it used to — and I can’t work as efficiently as I once did,” she said.

Since the tradition of butter sculptures began before Duffy’s time, she doesn’t want the tradition to end with her retirement.

“I’d like to find a replacement who’s down to earth, preferably an Iowan, and realistic,” Duffy said. “I’ve been thinking about giving the responsibility to my granddaughter, who’s also an artist.”

The dairy queens

Iowa State’s impact on the fair is found throughout the event. If you walk over to the cattle barn, you’ll find the ISU Dairy Science Club with several cows on display. The Dairy Science Club hosts a fundraiser where interested people can pay one dollar to milk a dairy cow. They have all six major dairy breeds on hand — and if you’re not fluent in Bovine, they are Jersey, Ayrshire, Brown, Swiss, Holstein, Guernsey and Milking Shorthorn.

Kasey Dix, senior in animal science, said she enjoyed the fundraiser but couldn’t help to see its irony.

“I enjoyed the fundraiser, but also found it ironic that people will pay money to do what I did every day for a chore,” Dix said.

When the smell of cow manure becomes too strong, visitors walk out of the cattle barn to experience more of the fair. Some of those sights are a giant yellow slide that kids can’t climb up fast enough, tractor showcases and endless fried food vendors.

The next stop is the 4-H building. Craft projects, art displays and agricultural infographs produced by young 4-H’ers from around the state are on display. Among the craft exhibits is an army of green-shirt clad staff members, many of whom are ISU students. They run from one exhibit to another, helping judge the different displays and determining if this kernel-corn collage should get a blue ribbon or if that water-color tractor painting should get a red.

One member, who’s moved her way high up the clover-leaf hierarchy, talks about her past state fair experiences.

“There’s no way 4-H will ever leave me,” said Maggie Mishler, senior in family and consumer sciences education. She said she has been to the fair every year since she was five months old.

Mishler said she nearly bleeds green with her 4-H pride, and sees Iowa State and the fair as two organizations with one common purpose.

“ISU students always have and always will have a strong presence at the fair, because the purpose of the fair is livestock,” she said. “Although many people now come for entertainment, the main theme is still agriculture.”

As soon as she says this, Mishler runs off to announce the beginning of the competition for their Clothing Event Program, where 4-H’ers are judged on clothes they’ve created. The contestants are wearing their evening gown creations, despite the Iowa summer sun.

To get away from the heat, fairgoers take refuge in the air conditioning of the FFA Headquarters. Although it’s a small, unmarked building, this is where many of the fair’s major agricultural operations are directed and controlled.

Among those pulling the strings is Iowa FFA President Betsy Ratashak, sophomore in food science. She’s among nine FFA collegiate officers, seven of whom are from Iowa State.

Iowa State and the fair are inexorably linked, Ratashak said.

“Our core value is agriculture, and where else will you find it than at the state fair?” she said. “Because ISU is strong in agriculture, we’ll always have a presence at the state fair. This is why FFA and ISU are bound together — because their essence is agriculture.”

Ratashak, who spends two and a half weeks annually at the fair and has attended every fair since she can remember, also sees herself as tied to the fair.

“I consider the fair my favorite holiday,” she said. “My values, traditions, ideas and beliefs, everything I am, is represented at the fair.”

History repeats itself

The quest to find Iowa State’s presence at the fair ends back in the cattle barn. Two rows north from the ISU Dairy Science exhibit is a showcase for “Lyon Jersies,” where the Lyon family displays their finest cows. Among the family is 17 year-old Erin Lyon, Duffy’s granddaughter and the possible future butter cow sculptor.

The position as State Fair butter sculptor has some appeal to Erin, a high school junior, but she’s not sure if she’s ready for the responsibility.

“I’ve helped my grandmother [with the butter sculptures] for the last four years, doing detail work and touch-ups,” Erin said. “But I still want a few more years of apprenticeship before I take over, so I can get the hang of it.”

If she does fill her grandmother’s shoes, Erin plans to bring her own style into the design process.

“My grandmother likes sculpting people and animals, but I’m more into abstract art, like Picasso,” she said. “It’d be neat to see a butter version of ‘Starry Night’ [by Vincent van Gogh].”

Erin’s plans to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps don’t only include art — her plans also include higher education. She’s considering attending Iowa State in two years and studying fashion design, business and a few art classes.

Once graduated, she may continue her grandmother’s tradition of representing Iowa State’s fine arts program in the fair’s butter cooler.

She may not realize it, but Erin is one of many future Iowa Staters who will show her college’s ubiquity at the State Fair.

She’ll take on many responsibilities, but the only aspect of her grandmother’s life Erin clearly doesn’t want is her job title.

“I definitely don’t want to be known as ‘The Butter Cow Lady,'” she said.