State Fairs and Butter-Cows
The Ohio State Fair and its famous 'Butter Cow' bring a needed moment of faith and clarity back to what this country stsnds for.
Occasionally I search my heart for what it is that makes my country, our country, able to stumble through the worst of times and come out right-side up. Then something slides into my consciousness from the front page of the Ames (Iowa) Tribune and my ‘oh, that’s how we’ll get through this together’ moment occurs.
Thus it was today that the story behind Norma Lyon’s ‘Butter Cow’ made me just a little more confident of how we’re doing as a nation. Norma’s nickname is Duffy, and she’s been sculpting a life-sized cow out of butter, each and every year, for the Iowa State Fair at Iowa City.
My mother was a Norma, as was Marilyn Monroe. Normas are heartlanders.
Something new is always coming up. Well, this isn’t exactly new. Duffy’s been wielding the palette knife to this edible emulsion pile of fat globules (butter) for 45 years now, pretty much buttering up the exhi…