THROOP - A former governor of New York would have been proud of the sense of community on display Sunday at the second annual Throopfest.

Held at the pavilion and grounds adjacent to the firehall on Beech Tree Road, hundreds of people from Throop and surrounding area gathered for a relaxing afternoon.

Town Supervisor Bill Tarby was hard at work as he grilled hot dogs and sausages. Tarby was very pleased with the turnout despite uncertain skies and a number of other similar options such as the TomatoFest at Emerson Park and the Irish Fest in Syracuse.

“We're very pleased. Every year we hope to get a little bigger, put a little more money into, and give more to the community,” Tarby said. “We try to do the best we can with what we have. We don't have a town tax, so we depend a lot on people's donations and putting in their time.”

The Town of Throop was formed in 1859 from parts of Aurelius, Mentz and Sennett.

Enos Throop (pronounced troop, the ‘h' is silent) was governor of the Empire State from 1829-1833. A protege of future President Martin Van Buren, Throop was also a congressman and Cayuga County clerk in 1811, just five years after graduating from Albany Law School.

Tom Weed, Throop's zoning officer and long-time Auburn police officer, had his tongs at the ready as he helped Tarby and others with the steady demand for food.

“This is a great town, a great town,” said Weed, a sentiment that was widely echoed by his friends around him.

Eddy Ruwet donated the bright-yellow sweet corn for Throopfest. His farm is near the intersection of North Division and School streets. “Best corn in the county,” said Weed.

Margaret Morgenthaler has been the town's recreation director for the past three years. She and her husband, Matt, have three children ranging in age from 4 to 10. Sometimes the youngest Morgenthalers give their mom a youngster's perspective on how to address rec issues.

“There's a lot of young families in the town, moms and kids. They'll say, ‘Let's try this,'” said Morgenthaler. “I love it. It's just a lot of fun, thinking of new and different things for the kids.”

This spring, they had an Easter egg hunt. Later this year are Halloween and Christmas parties.

“It's just grown and snowballed into a lot of events. More events than the town has ever seen,” said Morgenthaler, as one of her three brothers, Auburn attorney Norm Chirco, was seen walking nearby.

Years ago, Morgenthaler and Lisa Tarby, wife of supervisor Tarby, worked to get new playground equipment for the aging park on Turnpike Road.

“And from then on, she and I were always like, ‘Okay, what can we do next? What new things can we do? What will the kids like?,'” said Morganthaler, highlighting the five weeks of family movies that were shown this summer at the town park.

Mark Kubarek, the owner of K&S Car Wash on the corner of North and Seymour streets in Auburn, has been a town justice for the past 10 years. He routinely gets satisfaction from the work by seeing disagreements settled amicably, helping young people get on the right track after they've gotten in trouble with the police.

“I like working with the youth when they come into court,” said Kubarek, who was born in Auburn but has lived in Throop for the past 27 years. “I really enjoy the town. Great town, great neighbors.”

And while there are certainly more Throopfests in the future, the next few years looks bright for the large tract of land behind the firehall and the open-air pavilion. Throop native and architect Hans Graf, who now lives in Baltimore, helped with the drawings and designs. Visiting his family on Father's Day weekend, he took a closer look at the vacant land's potential.

“We're going to have - potentially - a softball diamond, soccer fields, walking trails, a bocce court. And more for all ages,” she said. A copy of the master plan was prominently displayed next to the line for buying food and soda tickets. No specific timetable for each of the projects in the master plan has been set in stone. Money needs to be raised, both from volunteer efforts and from the town's coffers. A list of those who had contributed to a total of nearly $6,500 was listed next to the master plan. First to be built would probably be the soccer fields because the flat contours of the site lend themselves very well to such a reasonably-priced endeavor.

Morgenthaler is hopeful the soccer fields could possibly be ready by next summer, the rest of the projects within two years after that.

“The donations that have been coming in have been outstanding,” she said.

Chocolate tortes, bundt-ring cakes, chocolate chip cookies, blueberry muffins, frosted cupcakes were among the many baked goods available if four rolling dice turned up a favorable number for someone who'd put their two bits on the right-numbered paper plate. Anne Cuff was helping at that booth.

“We have a lot of great volunteers, and just a lot of support from the community,” she said.