How Did the Blue Gate Get It's Name?

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An interesting theory and a logical explanation make up the story behind the Blue Gate name, according to founder Mel Riegsecker.
The traditional story is that an English man lived across the road from an Amish family in Pennsylvania.  One day the English man noticed the Amish son painting their picket fence white.  The gate was painted last and oddly was painted blue.
The English man couldn’t figure out why the gate was blue when the remainder of the fence was white.  About six weeks later there was a large wedding at the farm when one of the Amish daughters got married. “A-ha! The English man finally had the answer!” Mel explains.  “If an Amish family has an eligible daughter ready to be married the gate is painted blue!”

The logical explanation was, however, that the son ran out of white paint so he finished by painting the gate blue which was left from another project.  When Mel bought the restaurant in the mid-1980s it was named Der Strudel Haus.  He wanted to change the name, partially because it was difficult to pronounce and remember so he decided on the name “Blue Gate” because it was short and easy to remember. 

So did the Blue Gate “magic” work for the Riegseckers?  Apparently.  Both of Mel’s children are happily married.