Bath Relay for Life set for August 18

Hot Springs, Va. –

Bath County’s Relay for Life is coming up on Saturday. It’s a time for everyone to come out and participate in a day of fun and fundraising for the American Cancer Society. The survivors lap and opening ceremony kick things off at 11am. Cara Major is in charge of the luminaria ceremony for Bath’s Relay for Life.

“This is an exciting year for Relay,” says Major. “Our theme this year is Live to Smile Another Day. We have a full day of events planned starting at 11am and ending at 11pm. We are going to have the Minute to Win It games once again. They were very popular last year. In addition, we have several local musicians that will be singing throughout the day and then other entertainment. I’ll have Zoomba and in addition we’ll have some fundraising items throughout the day as well. Basket Alley will be selling luminarias, we will also be selling the purple bows as well. All proceeds go to Relay for Life.”

Teams have been raising money for Relay for months by holding cake walks, car washes, dinners and other events. They will continue raising money at Relay on Saturday.

“The day of Relay is very important,” says Major. “We have ten teams in Bath County, so there will be ten different teams set up there. Each one is selling something different. They are all doing different activities so you can buy some good food, buy some good souvenirs and then people come out from the community. So even if you are not affiliated with Relay, even if you’re not on a team, it is open to the public. And we want to have as many people there as possible to support the cause.”

Purple bows can be spotted all over Bath County, which are another fundraising aspect of Relay for Life.

“Purple bows, actually we call that Paint the Town Purple,” says Major. “And those are throughout Bath County. And you may purchase those now for $10. And you can display them wherever you like. A lot of them are displayed in public areas. You also see them in front of businesses, you see them in front of people’s homes. And you can really see how much money is being raised in Bath County by all the purple bows.”

A highlight of the Relay for Life is the luminaria ceremony, which starts at 8pm.

“The bags are purchased,” says Major. “And then they line the track. All the lights are cut off and the bags are lit. We do have some special remembrance laps during the ceremony. We have some local musicians that will sing some special songs, there will be poems read. And then the highlight of the luminaria ceremony is when we read the names of who the bags were bought in memory of or in honor of.”

Bath County’s Relay for Life is Saturday August 18 from 11am until 11pm at the Bath County High School football field.

“This year our goal is to raise $27,325,” says Major. “We are over half way to reaching that goal all ready. So that’s very exciting. We think that we will be able to obtain that goal. But I’d like to put that out there. To be such of a small county, Bath County really does contribute a lot to the American Cancer Society.”

For more information about Bath’s Relay for Life, contact Trudy Woodzell at 540-969-7194.