As Relayers make their laps around the Elizabethton High School track to raise money for cancer research, they will be ticking off the “Decades of Hope” for cancer survivors.
The annual Carter County Relay For Life will step off this Friday at the EHS track at 5:30 p.m. This year’s theme is “Decades of Hope,” with a goal of raising $125,000 for the American Cancer Society.
The Survivor’s Lap will be held at 7 p.m. and opening entertainment starts at 5:30 p.m. with the Christy Walsh Dance Team followed by gospel music by No Name But His at 6 p.m.
A total of 37 teams are a part of the Carter County Relay for Life this year. Teams will walk through the night around the EHS track.
“We have several new teams this year,” said Kathy Thomason, Carter County Relay publicity chair. “We had more people working through the year holding special events, and fundraisers and collecting money.”
Each team will have items for sale to help boost funds raised for the Relay For Life.
2014 Relay Chair Genna Price said the Relay had worked to bring in new ideas and interest to the event.
“We tried to think outside the box,” Price said. “We did new and different activities to try to raise the excitement about the Relay For Life.”
Throughout the year, in addition to the regular events, the Relay hosted a Southern Style Olympics and included entertainment in the Survivor’s Dinner to make it more interactive with the crowd.
On the night of the Relay, there will be the inaugural Glow Run 5k. The run begins at 9 p.m. at Elizabethton High School. Slots are still available to register at werunevents.com. Registration is now $25 per person.
The race path will complete one lap around the EHS track, make its way onto Jason Witten Way and then across Bemberg Road to West E Street. There, runners will turn onto Holly Avenue and then West Doe Street to Lynn Avenue before turning onto West F Street to return to the high school.
“We tried to keep them off of the main streets,” Thomason said. “They will have to run uphill but there is no way around that.”
During the Relay, entertainment will continue throughout the night after the opening ceremony.
At 8 p.m. Soul Obsession will play, followed by Matthew Keilber at 9 p.m. The luminary ceremony will be at 10 p.m. and awards will be distributed at 10:45 p.m.
An addition to the luminary ceremony, bags honoring caregivers are also available this year for a donation.
“The plan is to have the luminary for the patient and their caregivers placed side-by-side around the track,” Thomason said. “We wanted to honor caregivers because their job is as hard, if not harder, than that of the patient.”
At 11:15 p.m. Dividing Ridge will play and group Zumba will be at midnight. John Bland and Kim Lyons will play at 1 a.m. Bland will play again at 2 a.m.
While the entertainment is taking place on the stage, other events will be happening at the Party Tent.
Festivities there will include bingo, scavenger hunts, frozen T-shirt contests, Mr. Relay, talent show and karaoke, water bucket transfer relay, plunger paper, Pop the Polyp, Sock Out Cancer, Shake Out Cancer, flashlight egg hunt and synchronized snack toss.