{"id":44158,"date":"2026-08-13T06:32:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=44158"},"modified":"2026-08-13T06:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T11:32:06","slug":"butter-cow-unveiled-at-state-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44158-butter-cow-unveiled-at-state-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Butter Cow Unveiled at State Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The 2026 butter cow invites Illinois State Fairgoers to \u201cTake a Spin on Route 66\u201d in honor of the Mother Road\u2019s centennial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The grand marshal for the fair\u2019s Twilight Parade this year is Route 66, and the fair\u2019s theme is \u201cMiles of Smiles\u201d as a send-up to the Mother Road. This year\u2019s cow is accompanied by a girl eating ice cream. A companion sculpture shows a dog and a scooter \u201cheading out on a Route 66 adventure,\u201d per Gov. JB Pritzker.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt recognizes the 100th anniversary of that historic road that started right here in Illinois,\u201d Pritzker said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Route 66 was established in 1926, beginning in downtown Chicago and ending in Santa Monica, California. The Mother Road is also commemorated elsewhere on the fairgrounds via the \u201cRoute 66 Experience,\u201d a self-guided educational exhibit located at Gate 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIllinois is the birthplace of this iconic highway and ours is the only fairgrounds in the nation to sit on Route 66,\u201d said Jerry Costello II, director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pritzker and Costello were joined by first lady MK Pritzker, fair manager Rebecca Clark, Kendra Anderson of Midwest Dairy, and Illinois State Fair Queen Krista Phillips of Effingham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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(ILLINOIS COUNTY FAIR QUEEN KRISTA PHILLIPS OF EFFINGHAM POSES BESIDE THE BUTTER COW WITH GOV. J.B. PRITZKER)<\/p>\n

The butter cow will remain on display in the Dairy Building throughout the fair, which <\/span>opens at 7 a.m. Thursday<\/span><\/a>, with the annual Twilight Parade scheduled for 5:30 p.m. that day. The fair runs through Aug. \u00a023 from 7 a.m. until midnight each day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sculpture is made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter spread across a wire frame. As was the case in previous years, much of the butter is \u201crecycled,\u201d meaning it is reused each year, rather than discarded. It was sculpted once again by Iowan Sarah Pratt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grandstand<\/span><\/a> tickets are sold separately from Fair entry. This year\u2019s lineup includes:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n