The most stylish Eagles fans are actually 12 baby cows in Berks County
At Way-Har Farms in Berks County, even the calves have Eagles jerseys and the ice cream flavors are all for the Birds.
How do you say “Go, Birds!” in bovine?
A Berks County dairy and creamery has that covered — and then some.
The Lesher family, the owners of Way-Har Farms, now in its fourth generation, has traded in 12 of their youngest calves’ usual cold-weather jackets for custom-made Eagles gear in advance of the team’s Super Bowl appearance Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
And because the Leshers are devoted Penn State supporters as well as big Bird fans, their most nimble calf has been outfitted with a Saquon Barkley jersey.
“As a family, we are just so excited that the Eagles are going to another Super Bowl,” said Lolly Lesher, who owns Way-Har Farms with her husband, William. “My entire family enjoyed watching Saquon Barkley all season long. It’s awesome to see him contributing so much to the Eagles team.
“We watched him, as well, during his time at Penn State University,” starting back when daughter Jaylene, now a big part of the family business, was a student there.
“The Super Bowl feels like a holiday, especially with the Eagles playing, so we wanted to make this time exciting and show our support for the Eagles and Saquon,” Lolly Lesher said.
The calves in the Leshers’ Eagles roster are all newborns, and as such, these winter babies get jackets to protect them from the cold. But when the Birds beat the Washington Commanders to qualify for the Super Bowl, the Leshers and their friends with American Dairy Association Northeast pulled out all the stops to get team fashion-forward outerwear for the latest additions to Way-Har herd.
The Bernville farm’s baby heifers look pretty spiffy in their Eagles green, including speedy little No. 26.
But Way-Har Farms is honoring its favorite team in other ways, too.
In recognition of the Eagles’ glory run, they have temporarily renamed their creamery shop Swoop’s Scoops, a nod to the Birds’ mascot.
Moreover, they have created a whole roster of team-inspired flavors. Some of these sweet specialties include Tush Pushstachio, Way-Hurts Special, AJ Brownie Sundae, Cookies & DeJean, Butter Pe-Quinyon, Root Beeriani Float, and a bunch more.
These flavors at Way-Har Farms’ creamery, which is about a half-hour northwest of Reading and was a stop on last summer’s road trip by the state’s first Chief Ice Cream Officers, will be on offer for a limited time only. The one likely exception: Mint Bark-ley, which is mint ice cream studded with chocolate-covered pretzels.
“We’ll probably carry that forever,” Lesher said. “It’s been very, very popular.”
Absent from that lineup are any flavors giving a nod to the team the Eagles are playing against, even though a certain tunefully famous Berks County native is dating Kansas City’s tight end. The Chiefs will just have to come up with their own ice cream flavors.
“Not that we wish any ill will to the Chiefs,” said Lesher, “but we’re really looking forward to supporting Saquon and the Eagles and our Penn State heritage.”
Way-Har Farms, in business for 73 years, does other community events during the year, too, like the recent Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast day. Lesher is chair of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. So embracing their team, dairy-style, was a natural.
Needless to say, the Leshers are looking forward to watching the big game. But even on Super Bowl Sunday, they have to tend to the cows.
“We have to do our barn chores first, so we won’t all be there at 6:30 for kickoff because we’re typically not done that early,” Lesher said.
“But we’ll kind of hustle through our chores, make sure everybody’s fed and milked, taken care of, and tucked away for the night. Then we’ll all get together. I think we’re going to have a double cheese pizza and a cheese tray and a couple of snack and dips.”
And, of course, lots of ice cream.
Go, Birds.