Relay for Life main event begins Friday

Shannon Gordon, 13, left, and Tiffany McAlvoy, 12, enjoy a boxing game at the Purple Picnic on Saturday.

Saturday's Purple Parade and picnic kicked off a week of activities that will culminate Friday night with the annual Relay For Life event to raise funds for the battle against cancer.

At least 36 teams and 340 individuals are expected to gather at 6 p.m. at Eastside Park Friday night to begin a 12-hour marathon of walkers, joggers and runners continuously circling the quarter-mile track, starting at 7 p.m. Later that evening, scores of luminaria will be lit in a moving ceremony to honor both survivors and those who have lost their lives to cancer, and at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, when the relay ends, a "Fight Back" ceremony will be held.

Tonight, June 16, the Relay for Life group will honor victims of cancer and local caregivers with the annual Survivor's Dinner at the junior high school commons room, beginning at 6 p.m.

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