Helping kids while having fun was on the minds of everybody attending the annual Teddy Bear Breakfast and Festival of Trees events held last weekend at the Oak Harbor Elks Lodge.

The money raised at Saturday’s breakfast benefits Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Island County.

Lyn Bankowski, who organized the breakfast, said a tally on the amount raised wasn’t immediately available but it looked like the 2006 event is was a rousing success.

“We heard from people at various times that it was the best year ever,” Bankowski said.

More than just breakfast, the morning provided entertainment for the children. Seattle-based Kuba the Clown treated the kids with balloon animals while the Island Flyers Tumbling Team, the Enchanted Flute Choir and Santa Cruzan, a Fil-Am dancing group, performed throughout the two breakfast sessions.

In addition to the entertainment, kids brought teddy bears that were donated to the Soroptimists. More than 200 stuffed animals were collected from the event and they will be distributed to a variety of groups including fire departments, emergency shelters and police departments. Those bears are given to children in traumatic situations to help comfort them.

The Teddy Bear Breakfast wasn’t the only event benefiting the Big Brothers Big Sisters. The night before, Dec. 1, the Festival of Trees dinner and auction was held at the Elks Lodge.

Fourteen custom-decorated trees were among the 48 items auctioned that night. Wreaths, garlands and trips were some of the other items auctioned off during the eighth-annual event.

Festival of Trees organizer Mollie Brunner said the event was a success but didn’t yet have a dollar amount available on how much was raised last weekend.