The big cheese: Indiana State Fair unveils giant cheese sculpture
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After days of carving, Sarah Kaufmann, also known as “The Cheese Lady,” unveiled her giant cheese sculpture Wednesday at the Ag/Hort Building inside the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Nealy a ton of Indiana cheese was used to carve a gigantic work of art paying tribute to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The carving is sponsored by American Dairy Association Indiana.
“We stuck with the automobile theme, playing up that ‘Winners Drink Milk’ slogan of ours that we love so much,” Brooke Williams, spokesperson for the dairy association, said. “So of course, we had to have an IndyCar, Josef Newgarden, and the two dairy farmers.”
Different parts of the sculpture use different types of cheese. For example, the cow uses mild yellow cheddar, according to Kaufmann. All of the cheese used in the sculpture is from Pace Dairy in Crawfordsville.
“We have white cheddar for the big milk bottle. It took five 40-pound blocks. And then, we have our smaller milk bottles, in which we inlay into the cheese. We dig this out and make cheese putty and swish it in,” Kaufmann said.
Even though Kaufmann enjoys all of the work that goes into the sculpture, she says does have a favorite part.
“I love the detail, getting down into this little detail, the lettering, the outlining. The more time I have to do detail, the more you’re going to see.”
At the end of the fair, the sculpture will head to Bio-Ag in Reynolds, Indiana, where it will be recycled into green energy.
