2010 Relay for Life

The local chapter of the American Cancer Society Relay for Life will be held this Friday and Saturday at Hendels Baseball Field inside Apalachicola’s Historic Battery Park Marina.

The opening ceremonies will start a 6:00PM on Friday, May 14, immediately followed by the survivor dinner and at 9:00PM the Luminaria Ceremony.

The event will last through the night with games, food, jumpy house and live entertainment featuring the Tates Hell Blues Band & Jeremy Dixon and end Saturday morning, May 15.

Relay for Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease.

At Relay, teams of people camp out at local high schools, parks, or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to 24 hours in length.

The event began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon in Tacoma, Washington, ran and walked around a track for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Since then, Relay has grown from a single man’s passion to fight cancer into the world’s largest movement to end the disease.

Each year, more than 3.5 million people in 5,000 communities in the United States, along with additional communities in 20 other countries, gather to take part in this global phenomenon and raise much-needed funds and awareness to save lives from cancer. Thanks to Relay participants, the American Cancer Society continues to save lives.

So come on out this Friday and Saturday, May 14 – 15 and join in the fight against cancer!