VIDEO: Focus on the Family's Rev. London Gets Key to City, Standing Ovation During Mayor's Breakfast

More than 300 locals turned out to the Friday morning to celebrate family at the sold-out 2011 .

, who has as well as some Arcadia residents concerned with the use of taxpayer dollars for his controversial choice of Focus on the Family’s Rev. H.B. London Jr. as keynote speaker at Friday’s event, kept things positive throughout his comments, making no reference to .

As he introduced the speakers, Amundson kept his focus, quite fittingly, on the family.

“You read about scandals of cities almost every day in the newspapers, but in Arcadia the love of family reigns supreme," Amundson said.

“To the best of my knowledge, our entire city council, our elected city clerk, our city manager, police chief, fire chief, all have been blessed to be married to the wife or bride of their youth,” the mayor remarked. 

Amundson selected several speakers for the event:Tournament of Roses Princess , recent , longtime writer and volunteer Dorothy Denne, and, of course, the figure at the center of the controversy, Rev. H.B. London Jr.

Before he turned the stage over to London, Amundson was effusive in his praise of Focus on the Family: "I don't think any other organization in the country, or the world, has done more to support the family than Focus on the Family," he said.

London, the cousin of Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson, showed a deft comic touch throughout his speech, particularly when he made light of the controversy caused over his selection as keynote speaker.

“I don’t know if it was Andy Warhol or somebody said ‘everybody has fifteen minutes of fame.’ If that’s the case I’d like to give back about fourteen minutes and thirty seconds of time,” London quipped to laughter from the packed house. 

Turning serious, Rev. London asked the crowd to remember three words from his speech: compassion, communication and commitment.

As the crowd stood to applaud the pastor’s speech, Mayor Amundson took the opportunity to present London with a key to the city.

After his speech, London addressed the protesters as he spoke to Patch.

“My message to the protesters is, let’s sit down and talk. Let’s don’t allow ourselves to be divided by rhetoric and anger. We may never agree but we as human beings, we have to respect each other. I respect their position even though I don’t agree with it. I would like them to respect mine even though they don’t agree with it," London said, keeping with the conciliatory tone of his speech.

Mayor Amundson, admittedly relieved to put the breakfast behind him, said after the event that he thought things went “very well.”

“I like how [Rev. London] brought everything together; [his speech] dovetailed perfectly.”

Among those in the crowd were Council Members Roger Chandler, and Mickey Segal, as well as several former mayors of Arcadia. Also spotted were City Manager Don Penman, Arcadia Police Chief Bob Sanderson and Los Angeles County .

Attendees paid $17 for the breakfast, which was provided by the Matt McSweeny-owned . $2 of each ticket sold will benefit .