Relay for Life this weekend

Contacted early last week, relay spokesperson Brenda Burgess said the numbers expected for this year’s relay looked pretty much on par with past events – i. e. about 70 teams consisting of around 800 members, along with 300 cancer survivors and 150-or-so volunteers.

Referring to those who have survived cancer, Burgess said, “They’re our guests of honour so we kick off the relay with the survivor ceremony, which includes the survivor victory lap, followed by a caregiver lap for all the people who help the survivors.”

Another highlight of the relay, which happens around 10 p.m., is the luminary ceremony, which is designed to remember those who lost their lives to cancer and to honour those who are dealing with the disease or who have faced it before.

“We’re doing very well with the luminaries again this year,” Burgess said.

The Relay for Life is a major annual fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. This is the fifth year for the event in the Yarmouth area. The relay starts at around 7 p.m. Friday and concludes 12 hours later at about 7 Saturday morning.

The idea is for each of the participating teams to have at least one member circling the track throughout the relay.

The Yarmouth event is one of the largest relays in Nova Scotia. The local event raised nearly $152,000 in 2007 and the goal this year is $160,000.

This year’s theme is “Celebrate. Remember. Fight back.”

Despite the serious nature of the cause, relay organizers try to make it a pleasant experience for the participants by providing them with entertainment and things to do.

“We’re going to have a scavenger hunt,” Burgess said. “We’ll have a bingo. We have some specialty laps, where the teams can get dressed up in different things…We really want to try to keep people involved and happy all night long.”

First held in 2004, the Yarmouth-area relay has found a home at the Hebron Recreation Complex, where it has been held annually except for 2006, when a period of wet weather leading up to the relay date left the grounds of the complex so soggy and susceptible to damage that organizers decided to move the relay indoors and have it at the Mariners Centre.

For the most part, though, the weather so far has not been much of a factor for the local relay. Conditions for the inaugural one, in ’04, were clear but cold. The two other outdoor relays held since then (2005 and ’07) took place under overcast skies but with more comfortable temperatures.

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” said Burgess, referring to this year’s weather.

Recalling the first Yarmouth relay – when many people apparently were caught off guard by the cold – Burgess notes that relay participants generally are better prepared these days and she encourages them to take a similar approach this time, given how chilly it could get if 2008 is anything like 2004.

“Layers and layers, that’s what I recommend,” she said. “Layers of clothing, a sleeping bag and a flashlight.”

Burgess, the cancer society’s district coordinator, has been involved in the local relay from the start, initially as a volunteer, more recently as a staff person.

The relay remains a major project that requires plenty of planning and preparation, from signing up the teams to lining up the entertainment, she says, and organizers are constantly looking for ways to make the event better.

“We’re always fine-tuning and always listening to the comments we get,” she said.