Thousands of kids, teddy bears crowd Assiniboine Park for picnic

Thousands of childrenbrought teddy bears to Assiniboine Park on Sunday for the 29th Teddy Bears' Picnic.

The annual fundraiser raises money for the Children's Hospital and gives teddy bears "checkups" in the park.

Triages were set up throughout the park to bandage teddy bears.

John Myers has volunteered for 27 years. He said the past couple of years have been hard because of rainy weather, but on Sunday, it'snothing but sunshine.

"We just have families rolling in with their wagons and their bears and their stuffed animals and staking out a little ground in front of the main stage," he said.

Myers said he keeps coming back because of "the smiles on the kids' faces during the course of the day and to see the kids and families learning a lot about health prevention and health education."