THROOP - For a year and a half, the dream of creating an athletic field and walking trail on the land adjacent to the Throop Firehouse has been an important goal for the whole town.

Saturday night, the town took one step closer to that goal with a night of food, music and friends under the stars at the pavilion behind the firehouse.

Dick Signorelli, a member of the town council and chairman of the event said that the idea originated with the town council and that he and his wife, Terri, took the idea and ran with it.

“My wife and I have been working on this with the town,” Signorelli said.

“A councilman came up with the idea, and I just kind of found myself in charge of it. We started planning in July to get all of this together.”

Saturday night's fundraiser featured entertainment provided by the Prison City Rockers and was the most recent in a series of events that have all been geared towards getting funds together for the athletic field project.

Town Supervisor Bill Tarby said that while the town has a park area with a great deal of playground equipment, which the town adds to on a regular basis, it had become apparent that the town should have its own athletic fields for baseball and soccer.

When the town had the opportunity to lease the land behind the firehouse, Tarby said that it seemed like the perfect location to make this idea a reality.

“The town has leased this land for 100 years,” Tarby said. “It is about eight acres and it is a good location, there were some wet wooded areas that we had to clean up, but the price was right and the location was perfect for what we want to do here.”

Presently many Throop children have to travel to neighboring communities such as Montezuma and Port Byron to compete in soccer and Little League and softball. But the town hopes to alleviate that and make Throop a central meeting and playing area for surrounding teams.

“We just met with the architects,” Signorelli said.

“And we got a new set of plans. We are going to have a baseball field, with dugouts and everything and a soccer field, hopefully we'll also have a field for girls' softball and we are going to have a walking trail for seniors, anyone can use it, but that has been a real concern for seniors to have a walking trail.”

Signorelli and Tarby said that the project is well on track and that funds have been set aside for a concession stand, which they plan to have up in October.

The remainder of the project they hope to have completed by spring.

Signorelli said that Saturday night's festivities were made possible by the support of numerous people including the Throop fire department, who volunteered their time and facilities, as well as CNY Party Tent Rentals, as well as all of those in attendance.

“We've never really done anything like this before,” Signorelli said.

“But we've had a lot of support and the more support we get the closer we get to getting this project up and running.”

The fundraiser drew a strong crowd of interested supporters and people just looking to enjoy an evening of music and friends.

Arline and Arnold Ashbarry, of Weedsport, are former Throop residents, who said they were happy to have the chance to visit with their neighbors.

“We still have friends here,” Arline said. “We just wanted to come out and see what this was all about and just to see people, friends.”

Others, like Lexie Simkin, of Throop, were eager to support the building project.

“I think this is a great idea,” Simkin said. “I really want to see them get this project up and running, I think it is something the town really needs.”