Saint Paul, Minn. – The 67th Princess Kay of the Milky Way will be crowned on Wednesday Aug. 12, live at a private banquet for the 10 candidates and their families. The ceremony will be live streamed through the Princess Kay Facebook page. You can learn more about the 10 candidates here.
While the Minnesota State Fair has been canceled for 2020, the rich tradition of butter sculpting will continue, with the newly crowned Princess Kay’s likeness scheduled to be sculpted on Thursday, Aug. 13. This will take place on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in the butter booth inside the Dairy Building, where the butter sculpting typically takes place. The nine other finalists will be sculpted in the subsequent days, with the final sculpture being created on Saturday, Aug. 22. Although the public will not be able to enjoy the butter sculpting in person, live updates will be streamed on the Princess Kay Facebook page each day, with opportunities to virtually ask questions and interact with Princess Kay and the finalists.
Due to travel restrictions and risks associated with the pandemic, long-time butter sculptor Linda Christensen, who resides in California, will not be traveling to Minnesota to sculpt this year. After spending two years as an apprentice with Christensen, Minnesota sculptor Gerry Kulzer, an artist and teacher from Litchfield, Minnesota, will be sculpting all 10 of the butter sculptures this year. Christensen will be joining virtually to participate in the sculpting of Princess Kay for the 49th consecutive year.
Christensen is planning to return for her 50th year of involvement to carve Princess Kay in 2021 before officially passing the knife to Kulzer to take over as sculptor for the program.
Judging for the 67th Princess Kay will take place Aug. 10-12. Princess Kay candidates are judged on their general knowledge of the dairy industry, communication skills and enthusiasm for dairy. Midwest Dairy sponsors the Princess Kay of the Milky Way program, which is funded by dairy farmers through their promotion checkoff.
Social distancing guidelines will be observed for all in-person events.
To learn more about the Princess Kay of the Milky Way program, please visit MidwestDairy.com.
