HARRISBURG (TNS) The 109th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show is about to begin, and that means it’s finally time to get the first glimpse of the new butter sculpture.

For the past several years, sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton have created a tableau based on the agricultural themes of each Farm Show event, crafted out of butter spread over a wire mesh framework.

This year’s Farm Show theme is “Powering Pennsylvania,” and its main feature is a large dairy cow.

The unveiling was done following remarks from the sculptors, Russell Redding, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Agriculture, and dairy farmer Kacie Hershey from Ar-Joy Farms in Cochranville.

The butter sculpture is a longstanding tradition at the show, dating back to 1991.

This year’s sculpture was created from about 1,000 pounds of butter donated by Land O’Lakes in Carlisle.

Visitors will have eight days to check out the sculpture in person at the Farm Show, which runs from Jan. 4-11. Hours are 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, except 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Jan. 5 and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 11.

As in past years, the butter used for the sculpture had been deemed unfit for consumption. It will be recycled into energy at the end of this year’s Farm Show events.

You can watch this year’s sculpture being crafted in a video on The Era’s Facebook page.