Laughter and money seemed to go hand in hand at last night's Possible Dreams auction in Edgartown. The better the one-liners, the higher the bids.

Fortunately, there were some pretty glib celebrities willing to stoke the fire, and in the end, the 24th annual auction of 53 dreams had pulled in more than $376,000. That figure fell short of last year's take of just over $400,000.

A heavy and chilly bank of fog rolled in over last night's Possible Dreams auction in Edgartown, but it did nothing to cool down the bidders who went wild for items featuring Carly Simon, David McCullough and Walter Cronkite.

By the time the marathon event wrapped up some three hours later, Martha's Vineyard Community Services had raised $403,600 from 48 dreams, topping last year's $325,000 mark by a margin of nearly 25 per cent.

If there's a paradox in the Possible Dreams Auction, it's that the folks who run Martha's Vineyard Community Services count on the money it raises as a definite reality.

They need the funds, and over the past 22 years, this auction peddling wild and far-fetched dreams has anchored the development efforts at Community Services and enabled the agency to make daycare affordable to working Islanders and to offer counseling and substance abuse treatment to people with no insu