How Noodles managed to roost at Berlin Farmstead

Berlin Farmstead has long been a place for local folks to gather and visit, sharing meals, coffee, thoughts and ideas. In 2013 attorney Paul Miller, one of the locals, shared a plan he was hatching.

Driving through Winesburg, Paul — known by the locals as “Attorney Paul” — saw a large concrete rooster at a shop on the edge of town. His immediate thought was, “That rooster would be perfect as a lawn ornament at Berlin Farmstead Restaurant.”

Disappointed when the shop owner said she was not willing to part with the rooster, Attorney Paul was determined to make his plan a reality. Searching far and wide, he located only two roosters of comparable size in the entire United States, and one of the two was in Northwestern Ohio.

Meeting with his friend, Dr. Dan Miller (owner of Berlin Farmstead Restaurant), Attorney Paul gained approval for his plan, and together the men set the wheels in motion.

The 1-ton, 7-foot rooster would be transported to a local statuary dealer in Brinkhaven and then brought to Berlin Farmstead and installed on the front lawn, but to make it more exciting — and challenging — Attorney Paul and Miller decided this monumental task would be done in secret without involving Mike Palmer, president of Dutchman Hospitality.

Anyone that knows Palmer understands completing a project of this magnitude without him finding out about it would be next to impossible — Palmer knows everything that is going on at each of the 17 Dutchman Hospitality locations. Installing a 2,000-pound rooster on the front lawn at Berlin Farmstead was not likely to be done in secret.

Word of the plan spread to many of the Berlin Farmstead regular locals, and so did the excitement. Growing anticipation of “pulling a fast one” on the Dutchman Hospitality president became the topic of many conversations.

Local contractor and Berlin Farmstead regular Perry Chupp had all the necessary equipment to transport and install the rooster, and landscaper Kim Kellogg and his Grasshopper Group were ready and willing to prepare a brick pad for the rooster. With their combined efforts, the plan became reality.

On a hot day in July 2013, a small crowd gathered on the lawn at Berlin Farmstead to watch and participate in the installation of the large concrete rooster. Photos were taken, and all those who gathered congratulated one another on successfully completing what had seemed unlikely — installing the rooster without Palmer finding out.

It seems only fair to interject: The day before the rooster delivery, Palmer was unexpectedly hospitalized. Certainly we cannot say that was serendipitous, but it certainly did make the event less complicated.

When it was finished, Palmer was completely surprised. He didn’t have even an inkling of what was being planned but graciously accepted the rooster as a permanent part of the Berlin Farmstead landscape.

Within a month Miller’s daughter and granddaughters came to paint the rooster, applying life-like colors to the all-white concrete statue. Next came a Name the Rooster customer contest, which resulted in the rooster’s official name — Noodles.

Over the past seven years, many guests have taken their picture beside Noodles. Some of them have even crawled onto the rooster for their photo op, although restaurant management advises against doing so. Next time you visit Berlin Farmstead, check out Noodles.

These days you’ll see Noodles sporting a mask. Can roosters get COVID-19? Noodles isn’t taking any chances.

Vicki VanNatta is the public relations coordinator in the marketing department for Dutchman Hospitality Group.