HARRISBURG– The annual butter sculpture featured each year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show has been cut from this year’s virtual event.
“Pennsylvania is experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases with higher daily case counts than we saw in the spring,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “While we are heartbroken to have to cancel popular features of our annual Farm Show, we simply cannot afford to compromise the health and safety of our staff, the sculptors who would have to travel to Harrisburg, and those involved in recording and broadcasting virtual events.
Redding said other aspects of the 2021 virtual show will go on, however. “Our focus will continue to be providing educational, engaging, 100 percent virtual stories, pre-recorded video tours, and lively, issue-oriented conversations that invite Pennsylvanians, wherever they are, to encounter agriculture for the first time or to see it from a whole new perspective from the safety of their homes,” he said. “We will continue to adjust plans for Farm Show and release further details as the pandemic unfolds.”
The annual butter sculpture, which highlights the goodness of dairy and the industry’s importance to Pennsylvania’s economy, is sponsored by the American Dairy Association North East, or ADANE.
“While we are disappointed that the butter sculpture at the Pennsylvania Farm Show is cancelled, the safety of our neighbors and the community is of utmost concern of our dairy farmers,” explained ADANE CEO Rick Naczi. “Everyone will miss viewing the butter sculpture in 2021 because it is a creative way to highlight the state’s hardworking dairy farmers. However, we will explore other opportunities to highlight the importance of dairy to the state’s economy and the real enjoyment by consumers during the Virtual PA Farm Show. We will look beyond next year and forward to working with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to bring a butter sculpture to consumers in 2022.”
