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Cheese sculpture celebrates heroes in the dairy industry

A giant cheese sculpture is unveiled each year at the Indiana State Fair, and this year’s sculpture featured a super hero dairy farmer, a cow, and a jug of milk.

Sarah Kaufmann, known as the cheese lady, used nearly a ton of cheese – 1,890 pounds – in the sculpture.

Kaufmann says she used the state fair’s theme Heroes in the Heartland for inspiration.

“We have a great big super hero dairy farmer, then we have mighty milk because of all of the vitamins and minerals and nutrition that come from drinking milk, and buttercup the cow who produces all the milk,” she says.

Students from the Herron School of Art helped create the sculpture that took more than 350 hours to create. This is the 14^th consecutive year Kaufmann has partnered with the American Dairy Association of Indiana to carve a cheese sculpture for the Indiana State Fair.

She tells Brownfield she loves highlighting the benefits of dairy products.

“People sometimes think about fat when it comes to dairy, but if you’re going to pick a fat, dairy is where to go because what you get from it is so good for your body and your food dollar value is incredible for dairy and milk,” she says.

After the fair, the cheese used in the sculpture will be transported to BioTown Ag and recycled into green energy.

Audio: Sarah Kaufmann, “The Cheese Lady”