Noodles Draw Oodles Of People To St. Peter, Linton

By 2 o’clock eastern time on Nov. 7, members of the St. Ann’s Altar Society at St. Peter Parish in Linton were headed to the grocery store for more supplies.

“We had the biggest lunch crowd anyone can remember,” Altar Society President Evelyn Erdly said. “We had to get more green beans and bread to have for the dinner crowd.”

Those crowds made the 2014 St. Peter Noodle Dinner among the most successful in the roughly 35-year history of the annual event. It may end up as the best ever – thanks to the success of the Class 1A Linton-Stockton High School football team. It hosted North Knox Nov. 7 in sectional playoff action, and late-afternoon diners told Erdly and others that their supper crowd would be strong.

“A lot of people will come have supper here, then go to the game,” someone said as they stood in line for take-out noodles and all the fixin’s. Sure enough, the lines started forming again just a little after four. Diners had their choice of beef and noodles or chicken and noodles, with coleslaw, green beans, bread and dessert.

“All of our volunteers work hard to make this dinner a success for the altar society and the parish,” said Father Joseph Erbacher, pastor of St. Peter Parish and Holy Name Parish in Bloomfield. “This is a close-knit community, and everything about the dinner reflects that.”

Many enjoy lunch and dinner during the annual event. “That’s pretty normal,” Erdly said. “Some people have their lunch here, then come back later and get dinner to take home. Others have their lunch and dinner here.” Unlike many parishes throughout the Diocese of Evansville, which hold dinners as part of their annual socials over weekends, St. Peter’s dinner occurs on a weekday/workday – which undoubtedly explains the strong lunch crowds.

And those crowds explain why Erdly and a faithful group of volunteers started making noodles for the dinner almost four months ago. “We made noodles three days a week from the first of August until the second week of October,” she said. “We had 12-13 people every day, and everyone had their jobs.”

“We used 247 dozen eggs to make the noodles,” volunteer Cathy Burns said, “all hand-rolled and cut.” Burns has helped with the dinner for 30 years, and said the event had been going on for some time before she began. “We have some ladies in their 80s who can’t remember when the dinner started,” Erdly added.

Everyone, however, knows that its popularity continues to grow. “One of the ladies who started the dinner is homebound now,” Burns said, “and she is amazed when we tell her how big it has grown.”

The noodle-making effort doesn’t just benefit St. Peter Parish. “We donated 24 gallon bags of noodles to First Christian Church,” Erdly said. “They hold the annual community Thanksgiving dinner. And we donated 18 gallon bags of noodles to the Ruritan Club, which sponsors the annual Toys for Tots Christmas Dinner.”

The noodle team was only part of the volunteer cooking effort. “The ladies came in (the week of the dinner) and made 23 apple pies and 13 pumpkin pies for the dessert table,” Erdly said. “We also will donate 50 pies to the community Thanksgiving dinner.” And other volunteers donated a variety of treats for the bake sale held during the dinner. All proceeds from that sale benefit the Linton Community Food Bank.