Farewell to the NYS Fair’s butter sculpture — chopped, bagged and sent to the farm (photos)

Geddes, N.Y. — Like a Christmas tree that once lit up the living room, the New York State Fair butter sculpture was the centerpiece of the Dairy Products Building for 13 days. Families gathered around it, snapped photos and used it as a marker of time and tradition. And then, just like the tree in January, it was dragged to the curb.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the 800-pound sculpture was stripped from its pedestal spinning in a refrigerated case, chopped into chunks and stuffed into large trash bags. A few master gardeners and some kids were handed scrapers and knives to help take it down, turning the fair’s creamy showpiece into greasy rubble.