Giant metal roosters spread autism acceptance in Maine after town zoning spat

OGUNQUIT, Maine (AP) — Giant metal roosters are popping up on lawns in and around a coastal Maine community and as far away as New Zealand in support of a 6-year-old autistic girl and her love of the colorful creations.

David and Sara LeBlanc had a rotating display of the roughly 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) ornaments decorating their Ogunquit lawn until the town deemed them to be impermissible advertising for their attached restaurant, The Omelette Factory.

The couple initially resisted the town’s removal order, insisting the roosters were meant to comfort their daughter Pyper, not advertise their business.

“Roosters don’t lay eggs,” David LeBlanc told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

But they eventually came to an agreement with the town allowing them to keep two of the roosters in front of their home.

As for what to do with the others? That’s where friends, neighbors and complete strangers came in.

It started with a beloved stuffed rooster

The LeBlancs took in Pyper as a foster child and later adopted her. She arrived with a stuffed rooster and roosters became her favorite animal, her parents said. When her father took her to a Tractor Supply Store to play with baby chicks last year, she noticed a large rooster sculpture for sale and asked her dad what it was saying.

“I think he wants to come home,” David LeBlanc said he told her.

Eventually, their collection grew to more than two dozen roosters, which they set up in batches for seasonal and holiday displays. Pyper took to hiding behind one each morning while waiting for the school bus, which her parents said helps her regulate her emotions and navigate transitions.

But the couple ruffled feathers when they added a rooster to their restaurant’s logo, which is featured on its shirts and other merchandise. Although the LeBlancs said they view the rooster as a “family crest,” the town saw their lawn statues as advertising.

A code enforcement officer, Tyler McOsker, issued the LeBlancs $450 in fines and ordered them in April to “remove all unpermitted signage, including but not limited to rooster statues.”

McOsker didn’t respond to an email requesting comment. But he told the Zoning Board of Appeals in June that he had no idea the roosters were connected to Pyper’s autism diagnosis until the couple appealed the fines. He also pointed to a May 2025 article in a local weekly newspaper that described the roosters as a “fun and unconventional way to announce that The Omelette Factory is officially open for business.”

“That, to me, is the definition of a sign. You’re announcing you’re opening,” McOsker told the board.

David LeBlanc said the reporter misinterpreted a customer’s joke about the roosters serving as an “Open” sign.

“We never said that,” he said.

The town offers a compromise

The zoning board discussed the issue last month. At one point, board member Jay Smith voiced frustration at the lack of medical proof that the roosters were necessary.

“I’m inclined to think there may be some merit to a comfort animal on the front lawn … but the point is, how many does it take?” he said, adding that the seaside town “enjoys a certain ambiance undisturbed by, I’ll just say, a proliferation of weird art on the front lawn.”

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex developmental condition that affects different people in different ways, and comfort objects are frequently incorporated into therapy for autistic children to help manage transitions, support emotional regulation and provide a sense of familiarity, Beverley Cush Evans, a professor of special education at Lesley University, told the AP.

“It’s part of who they are and what they need,” she said.

Eventually, the board decided it lacked the authority to rescind the fines but tried to accommodate the family by granting a disability variance that essentially deemed two roosters necessary for Pyper’s access to the home.

“I want to emphasize we’re talking about two roosters. If they have babies or multiply in the night — no,” another board member said.

The variance requires the roosters to be part of a railing, however, and for now, they are just bolted to the steps. The couple has been fined another $500 for noncompliance.

A show of support

David LeBlanc said he is moving on from the dispute and is focusing on the good that has come from it. The family has given roosters to others to “foster” and show their support for autism acceptance, starting with a man named Sam who lives up the road. Though Pyper was sad to see them go, she understands the adage about making lemonade, LeBlanc said.

“She understands that the roosters being taken away were the lemons, and Sam and his friends, fostering them, are the lemonade,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Thanks to news coverage and a Roosters of Ogunquit Facebook page, the story has spread far and wide. One supporter wrote in from New Zealand sharing pictures of his children with a rooster statue in their yard.

Hetal Patel, who owns a motel in nearby Wells and has a relative with autism, wanted to buy a rooster after hearing about Pyper. They were sold out in the Ogunquit area, though, so she and her son went to New Hampshire last week to get one.

“We found the last one,” she said. “We couldn’t wait to put it out. People were so supportive, they were honking. It was so nice to see all the love for Pyper.”