Traci Gibson, the inspiration for the event, succumbed to breast cancer on Tuesday. She was 38.

Her parents, Mary and Gordon Shiner of Vestal, were in the crowd, receiving and giving bear hugs to friends who choked back tears.

Traci's husband, Brian, was there, wearing a T-shirt with the message "She will survive."

Was it difficult for him and their three sons to come to the barbecue, with grief so fresh and heavy on their hearts?

"No," Brian said, his voice booming over the pounding of the music. "This is what she wanted. She wanted this party to go on with or without her, and not to be a sad thing."

The event began at 1 p.m. By 1:30, all 1,300 tickets were gone, said Tom Shiner of Vestal, Traci's brother. Already present by mid-afternoon were people from Oklahoma, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and New York City.

The two previous years of the event raised almost $27,000, much of which has been funneled to help ameliorate the expenses of those battling breast cancer.

This year, organizers "can't even venture a guess" as to how much money was generated from the barbecue, raffles and sale of Traci's Hope ground coffee, shirts, bracelets, cookbooks and other goods, said Pamela Bemthin of Apalachin, treasurer of Traci's Hope. They put the number of attendees at about 2,000, but know that their best guesses were shots in the dark.

The park, simply, was packed with people. Everywhere, young and old were eating, talking, milling around, playing games -- and hugging.

When Melissa Joyce first set eyes on Traci Gibson, it was at a park. Traci was nine months pregnant and arguing loudly. "She was yelling because they wouldn't let her go down the slide," said Joyce, of Apalachin.

Joyce is a nurse, and when she went to work that night, she recognized one of the patients. It was Traci Gibson, ready to give birth. The women had been close friends ever since.

Joyce's daughter Emily was an ardent Traci's Hope supporter, selling bracelets, coffee and tickets at the local baseball field and Apalachin Elementary School.

"Traci loved Emily because Emily always told her how beautiful she looked," Joyce said.

Traci was beautiful inside and out, her mother said. Mary Shiner and her husband smiled Saturday, talking about their brave daughter who brought meaning to her illness by creating something much larger than herself.

"In the hospital, one of the nurses said, 'Oh, we have a celebrity here,'" Mary Shiner said. "Then the nurse lifted her arm and on it was a Traci's Hope bracelet she had bought two years ago."

Their emotions go up and down, Gordon Shiner said. Seeing so many people gather to support Traci's Hope is an unspeakable comfort at such a heartbreaking time.

"We're happy because she's here with us," he said. "When we drove in this morning and saw the sunshine, I knew she was here."