MATTOON - Butter, cream cheese and jelly were spread over thousands of bagels Saturday morning at the World's Biggest Bagel Breakfast.

The breakfast crowd at Peterson Park's DeMars Center included Mattoon resident April Karpus, who was spreading toppings while spreading the word about Bagelfest.

April Karpus, a college student, shared her love of the bagel breakfast with her friends Catalina Hernandez of Charleston and Roseanne Kidd of Taylorville. Her friends had never been to the festival.

Bill Karpus explained that he, his daughter and the rest of their family have been going to the bagel breakfast since the festival's early years.

"It became a tradition for us. Now April won't miss it for anything," Bill Karpus said.

Both Hernandez and Kidd said they found they liked the cinnamon raisin bagels topped with cream cheese, although Hernandez said she spread three times the usual amount of cream cheese on the bread.

Hernandez joked she planned to take several of the free bagels home.

"I didn't bring my big purse for nothing!" Hernandez said.

April Karpus said she also shared her love of the bagel breakfast during the spring semester while studying in France. She spoke to a group of international students there about Bagelfest.

"They did not know what a bagel was. I had to draw it," April Karpus said.

Bagelfest organizers geared up to serve 20,000 bagels to about 10,000 people from 8 to 10 a.m. at the DeMars Center.

A team of Lender's Bagels employees and other volunteers were hard at work before 8 a.m. as early bird diners showed up.

"I wanted to get here early," said Mattoon resident Steve Shewmake, a longtime fan of the bagel breakfast. "I wanted to get here before the line picks up. Later, they will have a huge line."

Sure enough, the line soon stretched through the DeMars center and out the back door to Peterson Park. Several people opted to eat their bagels on picnic tables outdoors.

Laura Wharton, human resources manager for Lender's Bagels in Mattoon, said the crew of volunteers had served countless people by 9 a.m.

"It seems like they go in waves, and we will get another wave between 9 and 9:30 a.m. as people get ready for the parade," Wharton said.

Most who came through the line seemed pretty familiar with the distribution of free bagels and toppings, she said.

"I see lot of the same people from year to year," Wharton said.

Leah Malcome of Neoga said she and her family made the bagel breakfast an annual tradition when they lived in Mattoon. She shared bagels Saturday with her children, Heather, Logan, Megan and Lilly.

Malcome said they stay after the breakfast to check out the parade and the festival's midway, where she enjoys the funnel cakes.

"We always look forward to it," Malcome said of Bagelfest. "When we get up here, we just go all day."

Rob Stroud can be reached at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.