Chenango County Relay for Life Set for Friday Evening

Chenango County’s 17th Annual Relay for Life event to benefit cancer research will take place Friday and Saturday at the fairgrounds in Norwich. The opening ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. leading to the team relays all through the night. According to local event chair, Marie DeSarro, the most moving part of the Relay for Life event is the luminary ceremony.

"At 9:30 p.m. we start our luminary ceremony where we spend time honoring those who have cancer and remembering those that we've lost," DeSarro said. "It's a very powerful event, candles all around the track, a bagpiper who does our first lap for that ceremony and really a time to reflect on those that we are honoring and remembering at the event."

Friday followed by the opening lap around the track. Local event chair Marie DeSarro has a timeline of events.

"Through the rest of the evening there is a lot of different activities for the kids and for the teams to keep themselves going all night long in the morning we have a breakfast privded by one of our teams," DeSarro said. "Then our closing ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. with final prizes and individual fundraising awards and then we will announce our final team total. Again we really encourage the public to come down and support the event anyone is more than welcome to come and check out and obviously give their donation towards our goal."

This year’s theme will be board games, with a life size operation game. The public is encouraged to come to the fairgrounds Friday evening to witness and participate in the activities for adults and children. The event will come to a close Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. with the awards ceremony. The goal this year is to raise $158,000 for the American Cancer Society.