New exhibits make their way to Harrington for the 103rd installment of the Delaware State Fair
HARRINGTON, Del.- Its the 103rd installment of the Delaware State Fair and if you’re visiting, there’s a lot of entertainment that will catch your eye. One to look out for is the Butter Sculpture.
“They had heard of our work you know doing butter sculptures we do butter sculptures all across the country from upstate New York to California,” Marie Pelton, a sculptor, said.
Marie Pelton and Jim Victor were last at the Delaware State Fair sculpting butter 19 years ago, but when they were asked to come back it was a no brainer, especially when they heard what they’d be creating. “The entertainers on the back of a wagon and all the animals were their entertainers and there was a pig driving the tractor; and all that we just thought that was pretty neat and we would have fun doing that,” Victor said.
The pair will be working for 10 days to bring this project to life. “It’s a lot of hard work.” Victor said. “There’s no doubt about it. We are tired at the end of the day.” Pelton told us the process includes, “Planning the design and then also creating the armatures, which you basically can see is an understructure and we use a lot of wood, metal,” Pelton said.
And while Thursday is only day one of building up the shapes with butter, it already has caught the attention of many walking by. “There have been so many people stopping by you know taking pictures, making comments, you know, asking questions,” Pelton said.
As the butter sculpture is grabbing fairgoers attention in the Exhibit Hall, the new First State Model Railroad Club display is stopping people in amazement inside of the Delmarva Building. “They look at the realism in it,” Dan Weimer, a member of the club, said.
We’re told the layout usually is in their Felton clubhouse, but they can move it to different events where they can show off the cool features it has to offer. “With this DCC layout, you can control the speed much more accurately,” Weimer said. “We change the lighting and the local motive just like real life operation blow the horn, ring the bell.”
And while it’s the first time this display has made its way to the fairgrounds, one club member we spoke with hopes it can have an impact on the club’s future.”It’s exposure hopefully we get some young blood and not so much old blood because to get into the hobby,” Weimer said.
