Linton Loves Noodles!
The first Friday of November ought to be known far and wide as “Noodle Day” in Linton, Ind. Just look at the lead photo with this story. It was taken just before Noon on Nov. 3 during the first hour of St. Peter Parish’s annual Noodle Dinner – which continued until 7 p.m.
The tables stayed pretty full of happy diners throughout the noon hour, and the traffic showed no signs of slowing up as the afternoon began to unfold. The same was true for customers who chose takeout; their steady stream had members of the parish’s St. Ann’s Altar Society and other volunteers scrambling to keep noodles, green beans and other menu items in good supply for those filling orders.
Nobody waited as long as one minute for their orders to be filled – a tribute to the size and hard work of the volunteer team.
“Every year, we have more new people turn out to help us,” said Altar Society President Evelyn Erdly. She has coordinated the dinner – and the noodle-making – since 2011. Volunteers gather a few days each week at St. Peter Parish beginning in early August to make egg noodles from scratch.
This year, they used 260 dozen eggs to make 266 gallons of dry egg noodles.
A large amount of those noodles met chicken or beef in several large roasters and became the main course for many hundreds of dine-in and takeout dinners. Each also included coleslaw, green beans, a dinner roll and dessert. Those who dined in also got a beverage.
Erdly said she and the other noodle makers gathered on Nov. 2 and made 34 pies to go with dozens of pies and cakes others made and donated for the dessert table.
As in past years, the Altar Society donated dry noodles to Linton’s First Christian Church for its annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner, and to the Ruritan Club for its annual Toys for Tots Christmas Dinner.
“We donated 24 gallons of dry noodles to First Christian Church and 18 gallons to the Ruritan Club,” Erdly said. She also told The Message that the Altar Society had 975 bags of dry noodles for sale during the dinner. They sold quickly from the time the doors opened at 11 a.m.
As in past years, the Altar Society also held a bake sale to benefit the Linton Community Food Bank.
Many attendees also bought raffle tickets for an afghan given away as part of the dinner.
