POPLAR RIDGE - For fathers and their families looking for dining possibilities on Sunday, a small section of Route 34B was the place to be

That's because the Aurora Rotary Club held its annual Father's Day breakfast at Southern Cayuga High School, while across the street the Poplar Ridge Fire Department had chickens cooking over charcoal.

About a dozen volunteers descended on the high school's cafeteria at 7:30 a.m. Sunday to get ready for the first customers, set to arrive an hour and a half later. Fresh fruit needed to be cut, the devilish part whipped into hard-boiled eggs and the fresh asparagus steamed off. The day before, all of the other prep work had been done, including the Aurora Rotarian's well-known sausage quiche.

“We did our big preparation yesterday,” said Joe Wargo, a member of the Rotary for the past 25 years. “I think we serve pretty good food.”

All of the patrons enjoying the spread were in agreement.

They expected to serve 200 during the four hours they served.

Per usual, Gloria Abbott expected two general seatings - the early birds, some of whom were waiting in line prior to the 9 a.m. start time; and those who come in some time after 11 a.m., when church services are over. As for Abbott herself, a nurse at East Hill Medical in Auburn, her role with the Rotary this day was limited to mostly moral support and some assorted grunt work.

“I'm no cook,” she said. “With me dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off.”

The annual breakfast is the Aurora Rotary's biggest fundraiser of the year. Those benefiting include Camp Gregory, which is located about one mile south of Long Point State Park on Cayuga Lake. Also thankful for the financial support is the area's youth soccer program, an outreach mission to a village in El Salvador and Southern Cayuga's exchange student program.

“Our funds are pretty well spread around,” said Rotarian Jack Charles, adding his organization is now talking with Cayuga County Literacy Volunteers about possibly helping those who work the dairy farms and pick the sweet corn to learn English.

Six members of the Southern Cayuga chapter of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) assisted at the high school, including the resetting of tables that featured yellow placemats and blue napkins - the colors of Rotary. The local FFA has seen tremendous growth over the past two years as an expanded curriculum has increased interest tremendously. There are now about 70 active members of the FFA, and 140 total, at Southern Cayuga.

Two of Sunday's helpers, senior Ryan Elser and junior Caitlin Rejman, were both enthusiastic when talking about what FFA means in their lives.

“You get a lot of different leadership roles and abilities and skills out of it. More than just agriculture,” Rejman said.

All the FFA volunteers were wearing blue T-shirts that read, “Have you experienced it?” Elser explained why.

“Agriculture. Period. Have you experienced veterinary science, horticulture, animals, computers, crops, chemical testing. There are a whole bunch of aspects to agriculture,” he said.

The Aurora Rotary has held its Father's Day breakfast for the past 12 years. For the first five years, they served those meals at the Poplar Ridge firehouse. But, Sunday, across the way on Route 34B, 150 chicken halves were expected to be sold by late-afternoon, according to PRFD president Kim Besner.