The Utah State Fair offers many main attractions and wonders for the eye to behold.

These attractions include a 271-pound pumpkin, a 13-foot-’long alli-gator and a giant pig weighing over 1,000 pounds. But the real sight to see is the lifesize sculpture of a man riding a bull — made completely out of butter.

The intricate detail of a cowboy, complete with chaps, boots and spurs, riding a bucking brama bull proved to be quite impressive drew oohs and aahs from the crowd.

The sculpture included a life-size rodeo clown standing next to the bull, featuring detailed suspenders and clown makeup standing next to the bull.

The sculpture had the feel of a Norman Rockwell painting.

With the bull’s legs in the air and his tail curled up, free floating in midair, it raised the question to many observers as to how this the piece of art was sculpted and the form maintained when it consisted of 100 percent% pure cream butter.

“Do not leave this year’s fair without seeing the butter sculpture” said Larry Laycock, a frequent visitor to the Utah State Fair. “That has to be one of the most amazing exhibits I have ever seen!”

This The sculpture required over 700 lbs.pounds of butter and took over more than 80 hours to construct.

Debbie Brown, a BYU graduate, and Matt McNaughtan were the artists behind this masterpiece. Together they worked 8-9 hours a day for over a week, sculpting and reshaping masses of butter within a cooler set at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

“We would work until our hands got numb, and then we would step out to get them warm again,” Brown said.

Brown has been sculpting doing butter sculpting for over more than ten years. now and continues to use her talent elsewhere. One of her most impressive pieces was foundwas located at the 2002 Olympic GamesGgames held in Salt Lake City, when she sculpted a cow on skis racing a skier.

“The real challenge,” Brown commented “was putting the cow on skis,” she said.

Brown graduated from Brigham Young UniversityBYU with a degree in art and design. She origi-nally began carving things in stone and clay. and

She didn’t find her love for butter until about 10 years ago. The Utah State Fair wanted to bring the art of butter sculpting to Utah so fair officials flew out a specialist from Ohio who trained Brown. Brown has been doing this it ever since and continues to train others along the way.

This was Matt McNaughtan’s first time creating a butter sculpture. Originally a sculptor by trade, he found that working with butter was a lot of fun. While trying to describe the difference between working with clay versus butter he simply statedstated, “Butter is a lot like the consistency of butter.”

“Do not leave this year’s fair without seeing the butter sculp-ture” said Larry Laycock, a frequent visitor to the Utah State Fair. “That has to be one of the most amazing exhibits I have ever seen.”

The 700 poundslbs. of butter is stored in buckets and reused every year. Each year a ballot is taken at the Utah State Fair about what kind of sculpture people would like to see the next year.

The State Fairpark, located at 155 N. 1000 West in Salt Lake City, runs through the 16thSunday.

Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Sep 2007