Greg Clary
CNN

The heat was just too much for a life-sized cheese statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington Friday, as the cheddar head slid off and shocked the gathered crowd.

A woman shrieked in horror when the head collapsed at her feet.

Troy Landwehr spent more than forty hours carving the statue out of a one ton block of Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese. The carving is for the annual Cheez-It Big Cheese events which are patriotic cheese carvings unveiled around Independence Day.

In years past, the carvings have included the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Mount Rushmore.

After putting Lincoln together again, Ledweher told CNN what type of cheese works the best for these carvings.

“The young cheddar works the best. It has the best oils and consistency. Other cheeses are too soft and will melt and (some) are too hard and you won’t get a smooth surface when you cut on them,” said Landwehr.

Apparently, this cheese wasn’t quite hard enough.