Pelton of Conshohocken uses a knife to shape the butter sculpture for the 2012 York Fair. (Bill Kalina)

The York Fair will be bringing back an exhibit this year that will likely draw some curious glances, bewildered looks, or drool, depending on whether the person is hungry.

To get the puns out of the way, the new butter sculpture exhibit of a farm theme is:

---Dairy good.

---Butter than you'd think.

---The toast of town.

Sculptor Marie Pelton, 47, said she's witnessed all types of reactions to her artwork.

The Conshohocken native and her husband, Tim Victor, have made butter, chocolate, fruit and various other food sculptures at fairs and exhibits nationwide, including the Pennsylvania Farm Show and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

Pelton is spending the days leading up to the fair's Friday opening preparing a sculpture of a farm scene involving a calf. It'll take about 350-400 pounds of butter, all coming from

Carlisle. Pelton, who started sculpting in 1998 after her husband started to get more and more work, said she took right to working with butter, chocolate and other non-traditional forms.

"It's just another medium to use," said Pelton.

She and her husband are graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Pelton admitted some fairgoers have thought using butter for art was "gross" or "wasteful," though she pointed out the butter is melted down to use for biofuel after the fairs are done.

The couple might get a little more credibility this fall, too. Butter sculpting will hit the national scene when a movie starring Jennifer Garner, "Butter," arrives in theaters. Pelton said they were brought in as consultants.

York Fair President Gene Schenck said fair officials wanted to bring in a butter sculptor because it was a part of the fair's history. A butter sculptor was last used around 1920.

For examples of their work, visit www.jimvictor.com.

-- Reach Andrew Shaw at ashaw@yorkdispatch.com