Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Monday, July 29, 2024
The Butter Cow Lady. More from the Iowa Almanac in a Moment. Aloha! A touch at the island! Right here in Iowa. Hi there, Auntie Peterson. Join Kerry Dolphin and I as we host the annual Tate and Dotty Cummins Memorial Pineapple Gala to benefit Camp Courageous. It's Friday August 16th at 6 p.m. at the Double Tree Convention Center in downtown Cedar Rapids. Enjoy a Hawaiian dinner, live in silent auction and more. Two view auction items or for tickets simply go to Camp Courageous.org and we'll see you there. Norma Duffy Olde Stong was born on July 29th, 1929. She got her nickname Duffy from her middle name. Her uncle was Phil Stong who wrote a book called State Fair which was later made into a movie. And given that background, her later claim to fame was probably preordained. In 1950 Duffy married Toledo dairy farmer Joe Lyon. They had nine children, all of whom participated in the Lyon jersey's business at one time or another. She took over creating the annual Iowa State Fair Butter Cow in 1960 and became so closely identified with it many thought she was the first Butter Cow sculptor. The tradition actually dates back to 1911, but Duffy Lyon sculpted the Butter Cow every year for 47 years until she retired at the age of 77. Hundreds of thousands of fair visitors every year watched her work inside the refrigerated display case. After a while she created companion butter sculptures including a Butter Elvis, Grant Wood's American Gothic and her 1999 masterpiece of the Last Supper. Near the intersection of U.S. highways 63 and 30 in Toledo on the top of a hill stands a cow and calf sculpture. That's not in butter, but it does stand in tribute to Iowa's Butter Cow Lady Duffy Lyon who was born on this date in 1929. And that's Iowa Almanac for July 29th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow I'm Jeff Stein.