Members of the Auburn Kiwanis Club served bratwurst, with former Green River Community College President Rich Rutkowski cooking ‘em up. Caramel apples and kettle corn were popular, too.

But the real seething hub of activity, the Grand Central din of chatter was the beer garden, where people gathered to savor small samples of toothsome local microbrews and enjoy themselves.

Attendees gave the event high marks.

“We’re pleasantly impressed,” said Jessica Bartlett as she and her husband, Tim, kicked it in the beer garden. “I didn’t think Auburn would be this cool, and I live in Auburn. I think the beer tasting was a reasonable price. The grounds were really pretty, too.”

“It was lovely,” said Karen Haas, former curator of education at the White River Valley Museum. “I first took the tour of the barn, now I’m enjoying the beer garden. The best beer is the dark Snoqualmie, and it’s not even that dark, and I don’t even like dark beer!”

“I got a candied apple,” a little toe-headed girl shouted as she waved the sweet treat about for the envious to salivate at before sinking her teeth into it. “And it’s good!”

“It’s a little bit of everything,” added Steven Yamashita of Federal Way.

Museum staff could not have been happier with how the day turned out, from the bus that smoothly shuttled people back and forth from the parking lot an eighth of a mile north to the vendors to the music and tasty suds.

“It was a great day,” said Tara McCauley, education curator at the White River Valley Museum and chief organizer of Hops and Crops. “The weather was unbelievably beautiful, the farm was shining in all of its glory, and the community came together. So many different aspects of the community were here. I thought maybe 500 or 600 people would come, and we had more than 1,000 come out to see and enjoy the farm. I am ecstatic.”

Mike Gerber, chairman of the WRVM board of directors, was equally thrilled.

“It’s been a wonderful day, the weather’s been marvelous, the staff at the museum coordinated a lovely mix of music and microbrews and the farm atmosphere. And the weather, I mean, you’ve got to be kidding me! It’s 75 degrees in the third week of September! This has been a wonderful soft opening for what is almost a 99-percent restored farm,” said Gerber.

McCauley said attendees guzzled more than 200 gallons of beer and the event earned a gross of $9,700 for farm restoration, though as of Tuesday afternoon, the net was still unknown.

Will Hops and Crops become an annual event? McCauley certainly hopes so.

“Why not? The bands were fantastic, the weather was amazing … the chickens were superstars! I think it was great,” McCauley said.