Fair ox completed to promote Orleans County’s Bicentennial in 2025

Artist paints agricultural, fair scenes to celebrate community

Provided photos

KNOWLESVILLE – Stacey Kirby Steward completed painting a fiber-glass ox statue that she started working on during the Orleans County 4-H Fair in late July. Steward painted an agricultural scene during the fair.

This week she finished a side of the ox celebrating the fair. She painted a Ferris wheel, a 4-H’er showing livestock with a giant American flag in the background. She also painted fair food, and a 4-H clover.

Stacey Kirby Steward has been painting large-scale murals locally for about 20 years. This was her first time doing a three-dimensional painting.

The ox will keep its home at the fairgrounds, but also is expected to be featured in events to help promote Orleans County Bicentennial in 2025. The ox could make an appearance in Medina’s Parade of Lights on Nov. 30.

The Bicentennial Committee would like to have more painted oxen to celebrate the bicentennial next year. The Town of Clarendon already has purchased an oxen statue to have it painted. Other organizations are considering one as well.

This side of the ox shows a pair of oxen helping a farmer work the land. Oxen were critical in helping pioneers clear land and establish farms in the pioneer settler era. Steward also painted apples and corn on this side to celebrate the county’s agricultural heritage.