FARMINGTON – It’s time for Franklin County to celebrate, remember and fight back.
The 2015 Relay for Life is gearing up for its 17th year Saturday, May 30, at the Franklin County Fairgrounds.
“The event is a little different this year,” said Anna Lyon, who is a member of the event organizing committee. “We will get underway at 3 p.m. and continue on through midnight. It is no longer an overnight event.”
The Relay is an organized community fund-raising walk that features teams encamped around the walking track. Members of each team take turns walking around the track, ensuring that there is a member from each team on the track at all times. In the meantime, the teams have a friendly competition in terms of fund-raising, activities and camp decorations. The theme this year is “TV Land.”
“It’s a family-friendly event and, while we are always aware we are fighting a deadly serious disease, we try to make the event itself as much fun as we can,” said Lyon.
The event starts off at 3 p.m. with registration and the opening ceremony and culminates at about 9:30 p.m. with the Luminaria ceremony, which features candles in bags bearing the names of those who have had a cancer diagnosis or have died from cancer. Contact Lyon at Franklin Savings Bank, 207-779-9230 or a.lyon@franklinsavings.com, or any member of a Relay team, if you would like information on purchasing a luminary for a loved one. The event ends at midnight.
Survivors are invited to participate in the survivor lap, in which survivors and their caregivers are honored. This lap is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Survivors and their caregivers are also invited to a dinner and reception at the Starbird Building at 5 p.m. In the dinner, which is hosted by Franklin Savings Bank, survivors and caregivers are served first, followed by other Relayers. The dinner is free but donations for the Relay for Life are gratefully accepted.
For more information on the Relay, go to www.RelayforLife.org/FranklinME or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RelayFranklin or call Mac Watts at 207-431-3799 or mac.watts@cancer.org.
