Spread the Word -- Butter Enterprise and More at Iowa State Fair

We practically melted when we saw this story. The Iowa State Fair's famous butter cow is not alone this year. The butter cow, which, yes, is sculpture carved out of salted butter, has been joined by several butter Star Trek sculptures at the fair, which opened on August 11. All created by Sarah Pratt, the fair's official butter sculptor for the past nine years, the Trek sculptures include the Enterprise, Uhura, Spock, Kirk in his captain's chair, and Bones.

According to a feature by Susan Stapleton in the Des Moines Register, Pratt is a former special education teacher "who sketches out her sculptures in advance and welds together a metal and wire form on wood that gives her the basic structure of the piece." The Register added that the butter Pratt uses and reuses "has been around since 2005, the last time she ordered a completely new batch. At first, it’s crumbly in texture, but as she continues to churn and knead it over the years it becomes more like clay."

And, apparently, Pratt played a role in selecting Trek as a companion piece to the iconic cow. She told the Register that she makes a Pinterest list, because "Everyone has their lists and I see where they cross." Further, the paper noted, Pratt "watched old episodes of Star Trek, the original show, on television, and noticed that only four main characters appeared in every episode — Spock, Bones, Uhura and Kirk. Of course, the fictional character James T. Kirk will be born on March 22, 2228, in the future in Iowa, and Riverside, Ia., adopted Kirk as their own in 1985 with the blessing of creator Gene Roddenberry. Pratt naturally hopes that actor William Shatner, who played Kirk in the original television series, beams down to see his buttery likeness."

You'd butter hurry up, thought, as the Iowa State Fair only runs now through August 21. If Mr. Shatner or you need more information, go to www.iowastaterfair.org for details.