Nearly 500 people attended Kids Can Fly’s 18th annual Storybook Breakfast fundraiser at the Affinity Conference Centre in Brantford on Saturday, February 9, 2025.
With the support of about 100 volunteers, the character meet-and-greet breakfast was hosted over two 90-minute sittings, seating 250 guests each, with a buffet-style breakfast of pancakes, sausages, and a variety of fruit.
Throughout the room, each table was decorated to reflect a different beloved children’s book, featuring classics like A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, Beatrix Potter’s The Tales of Peter Rabbit and Friends, and Norman Bridwell’s Clifford, to name just a few.
“This event is so great because while yes, it’s a pancake breakfast, no one stays in their seat for long,” said Becca McLellan, Executive Director of Kids Can Fly, with a laugh. “This isn’t like a wedding where you have to stay in your spot, this is a beautiful, magical free-for-all and so the kids are wandering, they’re meeting with characters and they’re taking part in the different activities we have set up at each of our five imagination stations.”
From Snow White to Little Red Riding Hood, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, Spider-Man and Wonder Woman, the Three Little Pigs, and more, around 50 various storybook and cartoon characters spent the morning interacting and taking photos with the youngsters.
Out in the hall, children eagerly lined up for photos with characters like PAW Patrol’s Skye, Frozen’s Olaf, a Despicable Me Minion and Peppa Pig.
“Edge Imaging has kindly donated their services today and so each kid gets to go home with their own printed photo,” said McLellan. “We know parents take hundreds of photos on their phones, but the kids don’t always get to see them and so by doing this, they get to take a little keepsake home and put it on their fridge or in their room, and it’s just really special for them.”
On the way out of the event, each child also received a goodie bag with various items and a book from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
McLellan said the event wouldn’t be possible without Kids Can Fly’s dedicated volunteers and sponsors.
“We have about 100 volunteers involved with today’s event and we’re just grateful for all their hard work. So many of our wonderful decorations were done by our volunteers and we really couldn’t do this without them,” she said. “As well, this event is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year and so everything goes back towards the Kids Can Fly program and services. I’m happy to say that through the generosity of our 45 sponsors, we’ve raised just over $30,000 through this year’s event alone. It’s just amazing because while our organization is thankful to receive a lot of grants, they don’t cover everything, and so those sponsorships make a huge difference and really help to give us more freedom to use that grant money strategically.”
While many guests were attending the breakfast for the first time, others were happy to make their return to the annual event and support the cause.
Sarah Desmond, who hasn’t been to the Storybook Breakfast with her daughter since before the pandemic, said it was great to be back.
“Breakfast was delicious and the kids always love meeting the characters and collecting all the autographs,” she said. “It was just so much fun to be here again, and we’ll absolutely be coming back next year.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
