Beyond the Butter Cow

Norma “Duffy” Lyon, the Iowa State Fair’s butter cow sculptor from 1960 to 2005, has just passed away. Lyon had some art training in college, but her strongest qualification might have been being an Iowa dairy farmer who knew cows.

A predecessor had established a tradition of sculpting something new alongside each year’s cow. Among Lyon’s choices were Grant Wood’s American Gothic, a Last Supper, the Peanuts gang, and Tiger Woods with a tiger.

There’s a book about Lyon, and a website created by her younger brother.