MAYFIELD - For a few days each year, the Mayfield Mobil Mart takes on the appearance of a fairgrounds, complete with midway rides, food, games and exhibits.
That's exactly what happened Saturday for the next-to-last day of the third annual Mayfield Community Spring Festival. Sitting at a table under a tent with a banner that said, "Community Group," town Councilman Steve VanAllen was pleased with the success of this year's event.
VanAllen and village Clerk/Treasurer Terri Brubaker started the Community Group four years ago.
Article Photos
Nicholas Skelley, 5, of Cohoes, slides down the big slide at the third annual Mayfield
Community Spring Festival in Mayfield on Saturday.
The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan
"To have things for the community to do - things that don't cost them any money - is important," VanAllen said. "We're going to make it bigger every year."
Gordon Carpenter of Cohoes is a ride operator. He brought his 5-year-old stepson, Nicholas Skelley, to the festival. Nicholas smiled and said his favorite rides were the Ferris wheel and the "Bouncy Slide," then skipped happily away to find his mother.
Carpenter said Nicholas was enjoying himself.
"He's the perfect age for all this stuff," he said.
Jack Putman of Mayfield Mills and Furnace, LLC, was slicing pine and hemlock logs into boards with a Farm Boss portable sawmill. With each pass of the blade, a side of the log was flattened to allow for easier handling as he prepared to cut boards to a pre-measured thickness and width.
"A 1-by-8 in a lumberyard is really three quarters of an inch thick and seven and a quarter inches wide," he said. "This is actually an inch thick and eight inches wide."
Mike Koval of Gloversville is the proprietor of Nanny and Pop's Small Town Cafe, a family restaurant in Mayfield. He and three family members were barbecuing pork and smoked chicken to sell.
"We do the firemen's clambakes every year, but it's our first year here," he said.
Photographer Pat Keane and Nancy Fagan were at a table ready to take pictures of people with their pets. All proceeds would be donated to a local food pantry, they said.
Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy Wayne Peters was sitting at the festival with his partner, K-9 Max. They were selling gray T-shirts with a paw print design and a black-lettered slogan: "Grow it, make it, hide it - we can find it."
Mayfield Mayor Jamie Ward praised the Community Group for its work on the festival.
"It's a great thing for the community," he said. "Their hard work is what makes Mayfield a great place to have these events. To have things for people to do is a great thing. Mayfield is a great place to live."
The Community?Spring?Festival began Thursday and continues from noon to 6 p.m. today.
John Borgolini contributed to this story.