Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.82 | NYS Fair Butter Sculpture Reveal!

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Unveiling the Butter Sculpture: Good News York at The Great New York State Fair In this episode of Good News York, host Mike Brindisi kicks off the Great New York State Fair with an exciting reveal of the iconic butter sculpture. Joined by American Dairy Association ambassadors Addie and Olivia, Mike delves into the significance of dairy in New York, the journey to becoming an ambassador, and the health benefits of dairy products. The episode also features an in-depth interview with Julie LaFave, Director of the Great New York State Fair, who offers insights into the planning and new attractions at this year's fair, including unique competitions and food offerings. This episode celebrates the rich traditions and innovations of the New York State Fair. 00:00 Introduction to the Great New York State Fair 00:30 Meet the Dairy Ambassadors: Olivia and Addie 01:40 The Benefits of Chocolate Milk 02:35 Becoming a Dairy Ambassador 04:53 The Importance of Dairy and the Butter Sculpture Reveal 10:10 Behind the Scenes of the Butter Sculpture 12:35 Interview with the New York State Fair Director 14:40 Fair Highlights and New Attractions 17:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts. During your business takes working with the best. With the James Hardy Alliance, you gain access to leads, training, networking, and support from the number one brand of siding in North America. Achieve new levels of success by joining the James Hardy Alliance today.

All right, Mike Brindisi here for Good News York. I should call it Great News York because we're at the great New York State Fair. I consider this the kickoff event. If you look, Times Square has the ball drop, right? Pennsylvania has Punksitani Phil. Well, guess what? Syracuse, New York has the butter sculpture reveal. And we are lucky enough to be here today.

and I'm standing with two awesome women from the American Dairy Association, Olivia and Addy. So I'm here with two of the ambassadors of the American Dairy Association, Adi and Olivia. Thank you for doing an interview with us. Tell us a little bit about yourselves and about how you got into this position. Yeah, so I grew up surrounded by the dairy industry. My grandparents have now a retired dairy farm.

They previously milked about 120 head of dairy cows. And growing up, I always helped on the dairy farm, and I grew up showing dairy cows, and it inspired me to join programs like FFA and 4H, and then I eventually got tied into the dairy ambassador program, and I fell in love with it and decided to run for a state dairy ambassador position this coming year. Well, that is awesome. And... Yeah, I'm Addie Brown.

I'm from right here in Onondaga County. I've always been submerged in the dairy industry. I show dairy cattle at the county, state, and national level. I love to promote the dairy industry to everyone and anyone and share how nutritious and delicious dairy can be. And it is. I'm a big fan of chocolate milk, by the way. Is that okay?

Yes. Did you know, so chocolate milk actually, well, all milk has 13 essential nutrients, but chocolate milk is the perfect beverage to refuel with after exercise because it boots your muscles after hard work. My brother-in-law was a college athlete, and after every game, my mother-in-law would bring him this milk, chocolate milk, that was muscle milk. And I used to laugh at him, and I go, who drinks chocolate milk? So it looks like the joke's on me.

It is good for you. Yes. So my volleyball team, I actually bring a gallon of chocolate milk after our workouts in practice, and we all drink chocolate milk after because it really helps refuel your muscles. What about brownies? Are those good for you? No. All right, I'm putting.

They do pair good with brass milk, though. They do. They do. So you guys are doing amazing things. We're here for the great sculpture reveal, which is amazing in itself. Tell us a little bit about how you applied to become an ambassador. What does that entail? What do you guys do?

So we start at the county level. Every county is different with how you get involved in their dairy promotions program, but you eventually, if you're interested, you can run for a state ambassador position. and I know for us it changes a little bit every year but we had a competition in February and there were five girls from different counties across New York State and we had to put together a portfolio of pictures of our time as a dairy ambassador at the county level we were asked to prepare a speech and what else there was something else oh we underwent an interview yes we did an interview as well so yeah it's a great way to be ready for the real world we learn a lot of skills within this organization learning how to give an interview, write a speech, and be able to give it. These interview skills, like a live interview like this, these skills will carry on with us for the rest of our life. And we're so grateful to have this. I'm so grateful to see your generation learning those kind of skills.

And by the way, you're crushing it. So you're doing well. So for you to want to be an ambassador of the American Dairy Association, you must love dairy. Where does that come from? Is it a passed down through the family? Or is this something you just kind of? Yeah, so I personally get my love for dairy for my grandpa. He obviously had a dairy farm, but he is just so passionate about it.

And I'm just so grateful to have him in my life to be able to teach me all these skills. And honestly, I don't think I'd be standing here today without his love for dairy. It's such amazing. Don't get me crying on camera, all right? Yeah. Well, both of my parents work in the dairy industry. both of them are health and food inspectors for dairy specifically. I work on a dairy farm and have show cattle,

so I do a lot on the fancier cow side, but I do a lot on the conventional too. I've always been in the dairy industry. I've been in this program since I've been in a bucket seat. My mom used to run a program in Cortland County, so it's been a kind of family thing. My great-grandfather and grandfather ran a pretty large dairy farm out in Cortland, New York, and they sold in the 90s. But it's definitely a generational thing that I'll carry on forever.

That's amazing. A couple more questions because I know we got a busy day here. What is kind of the main message that the American Dairy Association ambassadors want to spread? What is the message you're trying to get out? What are you really trying to do for the dairy industry? So we actually have a couple of key messages. So animal care, dairy farmers take phenomenal care of their animals. And most of them, yeah, every day. And they put their animals before themselves.

Sustainability, they take care of their land. and then dairy is nutritious and delicious. It's packed with 13 essential nutrients to help your body grow and function. So make sure to have your three servings of dairy a day. Wow, you guys are amazing. Well rehearsed. So would you say, now this particular event, the butter sculpture reveal, obviously it's a huge deal in this area.

How does it, like you wake up today, is this like the Super Bowl for an American Dairy Association Ambassador? Pretty much. It's just really, the butter sculpture reveal, it's been going on for 57 years, and it really just goes to show the importance of dairy in New York. It brings everyone together, and it gives people something to look forward to that is surrounded by dairy, and I just think it's a great representation of what New York dairy has to offer. Yeah, and it's made up 800 pounds of butter, which is about 2,000 gallons of milk, which is about a day's work for 222 cows.

So that's a lot of milk. But it's really cool that farmers are, again, being sustainable. All this butter will go to a farm in Western New York to be processed in a methyl or a methane digester, so it'll be able to be reused and sent back into the earth. So in addition to having 800 pounds of butter in here, shaped into some sort of amazing sculpture, none of it goes to waste. Correct. I toured the farm.

The energy reused from the anaerobic digester can, like, power. a house for five days or something like that. It was really cool, some crazy map, but it was really interesting. Do you know what the sculpture? I know you can't tell me, but do you already know what it is? Yes. Yes.

It is super cool. It is very cool. Well, I mean, I feel like it's cool no matter what. I think if you revealed, like if the curtain dropped and it was just a big square, I would think it was awesome. So, I mean. It's a very New York theme, and it will all make sense when you guys see it.

Yes. We have an inside little track there. It's something New York themed. Okay, good to know. Last question, this is a personal question. I grew up hearing that when cows lay down, that means it's going to rain. Is that true?

I have never heard that either. I don't think that's true. We have somebody in the background who I trust, who knows, saying that it is not true. They lay down all the time. They do. They spend a lot of their time resting. Okay.

They're only notes for a little short time during the day, but the rest of the time they're eating, sleeping, and just hang out with their friends in the barn. Yeah, see, I feel like my mom told me that just to make me feel better about something. I don't know. I don't know where I heard that, but now I know it's my whole life's been a lie.

Last question, we ask everybody this. You kind of already did, but we are good New York. This week we're great News York because of the great New York State Fair. Give us some good news. It could be about you. It could be about the dairy industry. It could be anything. Just give me good news.

I'm just super happy to be here, honestly. It's been such a blessing. I live about four hours away, so to be able to come to the state fair for a reason. It's super cool. Well, welcome to Syracuse, and thank you for the good news. And my great news is it's the state fair. I live 30 minutes here. I live just up south of Atiscoe Lake.

So this is kind of a short drive for me, and I come up here a lot. But the New York State Fair is so amazing. It has so many ways or so many opportunities to learn about agriculture. So I really encourage you as the public to please get out to the state. state fair, talk to the dairy exhibitors, go see the birthing center and watch the miracle of life, and grab a 25-cent glass of milk because it is so delicious and nutritious. Or chocolate milk. It's actually good for you. Addie and Olivia from the American Dairy Association, the official ambassadors of the American Dairy Association.

Last one. Plugs. Anything you want. A website, emails, phone numbers, anything. You can go follow us on the New York State Dairy Ambassador, Instagram, and you can keep track of what we're doing throughout our time as dairy ambassadors. We post a lot and we do some super fun videos. So watch out what we do at New York State Fair this week. Oh my gosh. All right, you just kicked off this event for us personally at Good News York.

Thank you for your time and your wisdom and for ruining the childhood notion that cows lay down when it rains. Addie Olivia, American Dairy Association ambassadors, we love you, we're ready for the reveal, New York themed. All right, thank you so much. Good luck. Thank you.

Countdown, three, two, two, One, let's pull the curtains. The theme of this year's butter sculpture is Dairy for Good, nourish, grow, thrive. It celebrates the joy and nourishment dairy provides at every stage of life. And it's inspired by the 125th anniversary of the wonderful Wizard of Oz and its local New York author,

L. Fran Kahn. I want to do this MTV crib style coming to my butter hut. I had to butter someone up to get in here. Anyway, we are inside. I know you wish you were here. We are inside next to the New York State Fair's butter sculpture. And here's the theme. Dairy for good, nourish, grow, thrive.

It's celebrating the joys and nourishment that dairy provides at every stage of life. But here's the thing. They also incorporated the Wizard of Oz because it's inspired by the 125th anniversary of the wonderful Wizard of Oz, and it's the local New York author, L. Frank Baum. But check this out, guys.

Every bit of detail has to do with exactly what I said, the Wizard of Oz. Cowardly Lion, right? Milk jugs holding down the thing. We've got Dairy Defies Gravity, a little wicked reference. This is apparently for, what is it, reasons of licensing, we're going to call this dog dot. But we know what the dog. who the dog is. And this, of course, is a young girl, possibly named Dorothy. The poppies. I mean, and it's Linda, the Good Witch. This is absolutely stunning. Folks, we are looking at 800 pounds

of butter. This is about the amount I put on every bagel I eat, and my wife gets mad. But check it out, man. Look at the detail on the brick road. Wickedly good for you. And one of the, sculptors I was talking to mentioned that they didn't know how to make the yellow brick road pop because everything's yellow so they did the contrast with the grass and the poppies it's the first time oh and the hooves on the cow it's the first time that they've actually used color on the butter sculpture it's always been yellow so that's kind of cool that we're here for that too and then there she is my wife I mean the wicked witch everybody the wicked witch so

So Good News York live, the Great New York State Fair. I dare say it's great New York. I've always wanted to see the butter sculpture a sculpture up close. Being next to it is pretty awesome, man. I want to eat my way out of this thing. All right, Mike Brindisi of Good News York, or I should say, great New Yorkers

about the Great New York State Fair. I'm honored to be standing here with the New York State Fair Director. I think it's even more than that. Is that the right title? We'll go with Director. We'll go with Director. Julie LaFave, how are you, besides tired?

23 hours to go, and I've never been more alive. I bet. This is your Super Bowl. I mean, you are the head honcho of this thing, the great New York State Fair. Everybody knows about it. You know, something I was interested in is what goes into the planning and what is your background? Like, how do you even get appointed by the governor for this? I mean, what are the credentials?

I wouldn't even know. Somewhere around 15 years ago, I realized that I really liked doing business. big, massive events. And my first 20 years of my career was Parks and Recreation and I was with the City of Syracuse. And as you know, Clinton Square, any of those big downtown festivals. So I really fell in love with that and I love public service. I've found that I really love working to make other people happy. And that's what the state fair is, right? It's the whole thing. We work for 11 months so that we get to see 13 days of joy. I mean, we're standing in front of an 800 pound butter sculpture. What's not fun about that, right?

So the planning process, I'm going to imagine this is a 364 day thing a year? It is. And we get to say fun sentences that you never thought you'd say in your life. Like yesterday I said, make sure the bike rack is in front of the brannosaur, or the woolly mammoth. And I was like, that's the sentence I never thought I would say. It's like having kids. I say things to my kids that I'm just like, what? Why? I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. Yeah, I mean, it's 800 pounds of butter, and then, you know, you're going to see 100 tons of sand, and we get to work all the logistics out of that so that in a few days you can see what the sand sculpture is. It's phenomenal. Now, so when this is all over, which is, I mean, we're just kicking it off. Do you have like a week to yourself or is it go right back into it?

Oddly enough, the fair ends on September 1st Labor Day for the public, but we then have to tear down for three weeks, but five days later, a horse show comes in. People forget that we are a year-round event center. We also host 200 other events. So the fair, everybody is going back to school or prepping for fall or getting their pumpkin spice lattes, and we're bringing in horses. Julie, I am concerned for your health. You need to rest.

So tell us, I mean, every year, There's a lot of staples that we will obviously expect at the New York State Fair. Is there anything different this year? Anything new that you're excited to unveil or to talk about? There's a lot of new food, obviously. We can't have the fair without food. We have new competitions. I keep plugging this one because I'm so excited to see it.

Bunny agility. Bunny agility? Bunny agility. And it's exactly what it sounds like bunnies going through a course. There's the llama contest, the llama jumping contest, the goat costume contest. There's a new sensory shed. We have amazing music. this year. And when I say music, I don't just mean Chevy Court Suburban Park. I mean the permanent

restaurant stands and the cultural villages who all book full days worth of music. You can come on a day and probably see 15 concerts. That's insane. I took a look at the lineup and it's not just in the Chevy Court. It's all over the place and it's all throughout the fair. If you're going for that Suburban Park show, there's a new bar up there called the Empire Bar and they're going to start doing music every day at 5.30. So if you're going to go to that 8 p.m. show, go at 5.30 and start listening to local bands like Just... Joe. You don't have to have a beer, just sitting in a... We love Joe. Yeah, just Joe. Go listen to them, have a water, have a bag of chips,

and then wait for a Super Park Show, and you just spent zero dollars. Dude, you nailed it. So I've got to ask, let's just pretend I live under a rock. I've never been to the New York State Fair. What is the one food? I'm at the New York State Fair. I'm like, I've got to eat one thing. I know this is very hard. But I told you there'd be no hard-hitting questions. I think I lied. What is the one, or maybe three, if you have to... I can't pick a favorite child. Oh, you got me there. I can't pick a favorite child.

My daughter thinks you can, but yeah, you're right. You know, I'll tell you what people go for. There you go. Pizza free, the dollar potato, New York potatoes, you know, the 25 cent milk, all of those things. See, I'm a big sausage and peppers guy. I feel like sausage and peppers gets overlooked. Facilios. And then obviously we have now the toss and fire stand, so you've got to get your wood-fired pizza.

We love Nick in the boys. pizza and a cone this year. We have cookie dough in a bowl. These are all new things. We have deep-fried turkey legs, deep-fried ribs. I mean, deep-fried anything. Take whatever you find and just deep-fried, and you'll get it here. Deep-fry your cell phone and eat it here. You can't eat it here. They're the size of your head. They're the size of your head right here in the Jerry Product Building. So come hungry. The Great New York State Fair does it big. Julie LaFave, director of the fair. I want you to sleep after this. Anything else you want to say before we go, give us some good news for Good

News York. It can be about you. It could be about the fair. What's the good news? I challenge every fairgoer to find something new that they've, if they're a returner, go into the goat barn if you've never been there. Try a new food. If it's not your genre of music, try it out anyways. Do something new. I think that's just a good life lesson, you know? Julie LaFave, thank you so much for your time. Director, I want to say it right. Are you the director, head honcho, presidency? The Great New York State Fair. Director of the Great New York State Fair. Julie Lafave, this is the woman behind it all and she's amazing. Thank you so much for your times. All right. I've seen the sunny days that I thought would never end. I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.

You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at rs.com.