Gerry Kulzer’s talent as a sculptor soon will have a new venue at which to be admired.
The Litchfield artist and teacher, will create the butter sculptures of the 10 young women competing for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way.
While the Minnesota State Fair has been canceled for this year, the tradition of crowning and then sculpting in butter the Princess Kay candidates will continue.
The 67th Princess Kay of the Milky Way will be crowned Aug. 12 during a private banquet for the 10 candidates and their families. The ceremony will be live streamed through the Princess Kay Facebook page.
Maggie Meyer of Grove City will represent Meeker County as one of the 10 young women particiapting in the Princess Kay contest. She is the daughter of Greg and Patti Meyer.
The next day, Kulzer will begin sculpting. He’ll start his work with the newly crowned Princess Kay at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in the butter booth at the Dairy Building. The nine other finalists will be sculpted in subsequent days, with the final sculpture being created Aug. 22.
Though not open to the public, the butter sculpting will be viewable during live updates streamed on the Princess Kay Facebook page each day. Viewers will be able to ask questions and interact virtually with Princess Kay and the finalists during these streams.
Kulzer takes on the butter sculpting role this year as long-time sculptor Linda Christensen steps aside. Christensen, who lives in California, will not travel to Minnesota to sculpt this year due to travel restrictions and risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
Kulzer is an artist and teacher, who has spent two years as an apprentice with Christensen. She will join virtually to participate in the sculpting of Princess Kay for the 49th consecutive year.
Christensen plans to return for her 50th year of involvement to carve Princess Kay in 2021 before passing the sculptor’s knife to Kulzer to take over the program.
