Butter controversy at the Iowa State Fair

Posted by Oinker at 8/3/2009 11:56 AM
Categories: Iowaness, musings, Humor, goofy stuff


During my recent visit to Iowa, my mom showed me an article in the Des Moines Register with the headline "Butter King of Pop will join cow at State Fair". Of course Iowans in the know realized right away that they were talking about the famous butter sculpture of a cow that delights fair goers from its refrigerated glass case every year in Des Moines. And since this article came out just after Michael Jackson's death, it was readily understood that there would also be a buttery Michael Jackson this year.

Oh, and of course, the pun machine began whirring madly... or perhaps churning. To quote that original article, "The man in the mirror, er, cooler and the cow, this year a Jersey, will be on display Aug. 13-23 in the usual prominent spot in the Agriculture Building."

The article goes on to say, "Despite Jackson's overwhelming success and popularity, Chappel realizes that a sculpture of him could become controversial."

Well, that proved to be quite an understatement, as the next article regarding Butter Michael appeared, stating "The Michael Jackson dairy debate continues. Iowans displayed a mix of outrage and enthusiasm after the Iowa State Fair announced a plan for a Michael Jackson butter sculpture at the 2009 Iowa State Fair. So the fair announced last week that it will let the public vote on whether the deceased star will be part of its 2009 butter sculptures, alongside the famed butter cow."

So it was put to a vote. Butter Michael lost big. The Register's Op Ed piece on this was headlined "Fair voters tell Butter Michael to 'Beat It' ". (insert groan here... but wait - there's more...). 
"The bad butter puns and metaphors were popping up like quack grass. One of my colleagues suggested I begin today's column with "Start spreading the news."
Stop groaning. That's nothing. From Fox News: "Michael Jackson may be memorialized in wax at Madame Tussauds, but it's not yet clarified whether he'll get butter treatment at the Iowa State Fair."
And: "The debate over how to honor the late King of Pop is churning for Iowa fairgoers who will vote on whether to include Jackson's image as part of the fair's 2009 display of celebrated butter sculptures."

OK, shoot me now. I know I, am guilty of pesky punster behavior on occasion, but even I had to stand in awe of such pun-ishment... (ha! couldn't help myself!)

So, no Butter Michael this year in Iowa. As the Op Ed writer (Marc Hansen) summarized, "So it went. Now that travesty has been averted, we can all get a good night's sleep."
 

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