Chef Jacques World's Largest Bobblehead

Bellville, Ohio, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Jacques, billed as the World's Largest Bobblehead, is a restored fiberglass chef statue outside the Buckeye Express Diner on State Route 97 in Bellville, Ohio. The Mansfield News Journal reported in 2022 that it stands 35 feet tall and was re-erected that July with its head on a spring.

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Chef Jacques World's Largest Bobblehead

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Site-level location · 40.6470° N, 82.5409° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 35-foot chef whose head bobbles was unveiled in 2022 outside a diner off Interstate 71, and the reason he nods at all is that he was found headless. The Mansfield News Journal reported in October 2022 that the fiberglass statue, known as Jacques, was erected outside the Buckeye Express Diner in Bellville on 1 July 2022. It billed him as the "World's Largest Bobblehead".

His story starts in Mansfield. A 1972 News Journal photo caption, quoted in the 2022 article, says the statue stood in front of Jacques' Restaurant on Lexington Avenue and was built in Indiana for about $10,000. It described him as 35 feet high and 5,000 pounds. He came down in 1972, and a local businessman took him away "as an investment", intending to use him for advertising. He then lay in pieces in the weeds for about 50 years.

The restorer, a local manufacturer, said the head had come off. That inspired the bobblehead idea. After calling about 10 manufacturers, he had a custom spring made by a firm in Houston, Texas, and he poured a concrete footer for the statue. As of 2022 a rope attached to the head let children make it bobble, and in strong wind it moves on its own. He painted the chef's coat scarlet rather than its original blue, as the diner's owner was an Ohio State fan.

The statue has a twin: a 32-foot fiberglass figure in Marblehead, Ohio, nicknamed "Handless Jacques" until it was restored with new hands in 2022. A volunteer who worked on that figure told the paper that both were made for the same customer, who had roast beef sandwich shops in Mansfield and Marion.

The News Journal said in 2022 that he is visible from Interstate 71, but that driving up to the diner is the best way to see him; the statue holds two hamburgers.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A tall roadside statue outside the Buckeye Express Diner, a restaurant at 810 State Route 97 W, Bellville (exit 165 off I-71 per the diner's site). A 2022 report said a rope on the head let children make it bobble.

ACCESS

On the Buckeye Express Diner's commercial property at 810 State Route 97 W, Bellville, near I-71 exit 165. The News Journal reported in 2022 that it can be seen from I-71; check the diner's hours before visiting.

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67 km away

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