MOUNT VERNON – For the first time in the event’s 22-year history, the Knox County Relay for Life will be held in downtown Mount Vernon on Friday night.
The relay will be held at the Public Square, and the timing of the event will be different from years past, too. The event will last six hours instead of 12, spanning from 6 p.m. until midnight.
“We have to adapt, times are changing. I mean, the reality is that it isn’t 1985 anymore,” said Event Leadership Team member Jody Rutter. “Lives are different, people are different. And we have to adapt to that to keep the event relevant.”
Relay volunteers moved the event downtown following feedback from participants in a survey after last year’s race. Participants said they wanted to change things up, as it had been at the Mount Vernon High School track for the last four years and they believed that taking the event downtown would engage more community members and local businesses.
Participants also suggested making it a six-hour event, in order to better accommodate families that might want to attend.
“People will approach us, and we were hearing a lot of things like, ‘We’ve already done this. I’m too busy, I can’t dedicate an entire weekend to this event.’ They have children and with travel sports, it’s the height of ball season right now,” Rutter said. “People are saying they want to do it, they just can’t dedicate that much time.
“So we really did have to listen to that and make some tough decisions.”
Volunteers hope that this year brings more of a ‘festival feel’ to the event, with more vendors and activities set up downtown than were previously at the track.
“We’re hoping more little kids can come, that people are comfortable bringing their whole families,” Event Leadership Team member Calyn Posey said. “Even older folks that may not just want to go walk, we’re hoping this is more of a hang-out, downtown festival, rather than just a walk around a track.”
While Posey said the feedback from the public on these changes has been largely positive, volunteers have asked questions about parking downtown. She confirmed that there will be “plenty of parking” in the lots downtown, and that volunteers would “like to encourage people to not be discouraged about parking.”
“Of course, there are going to be some individuals who may be upset with that change,” American Cancer Society community development manager Courtney Ross said. “But we all have to take a look at the event as a whole and make sure that we’re extending the life expectancy of the event and the community there in Knox County, so we’re going to have to shake it up a bit.
“We can’t continue to be the same and expect things to grow.”
Ultimately, the Event Leadership Team believes that moving the event downtown and changing its time frame will provide a more engaging experience for the community and therefore raise more money for cancer research.
“We’re not going to make everyone happy, we’re trying. But the goal is to raise money. If we grow the event, we’re going to raise money, and if we raise money, that’s more in the fight against this disease,” Rutter said. “And we’ve gotta keep our eye on that ball.”
Other than the location and duration of this year’s relay, however, nearly everything else about the event will stay the same.
Following the Survivor Reception at 5 p.m. in the the Grand Hotel, the opening ceremony will kick off the relay at 6 p.m. Participants can then either walk the circle, visit on-site fundraiser tents or participate in gift basket auctions. All donations made at the event will go to the American Cancer Society.
At 10 p.m., the Luminaria Ceremony will take place. Participants can buy a luminaria bag in memory of someone who has either lost their battle with cancer or is still fighting, and the candles inside the bags will be lit.
For Posey, this is arguably the most impactful moment of the night.
“For some teams, it’s the reason they created a team – in memory of somebody,” Posey said. “It’s kind of the whole point of the event – to remember those fighting and to help those who continue to fight.”
The closing ceremony will wrap the event up at 11:45 p.m.
Volunteers expect around 300-400 members of the community to participate on Friday night, with sunny and warm weather in the forecast. There are currently 24 relay teams signed up, although Ross believes that more will likely sign up on-site.
According to the Knox County Relay for Life website, donors have raised over $41,000 ahead of Friday’s relay. While the Event Leadership Team’s goal for this year is upwards of $170 thousand, Rutter noted that a solid chunk of the event’s donations will come this weekend and they will be accepting donations until August.
Cancer is estimated to affect over 68,000 Ohioans in 2018, according to the American Cancer Society’s website. Volunteers in Knox County believe that this year’s Relay for Life will provide the community an opportunity to honor those who have fought cancer and also to donate in the effort to eliminate it.
“Now-a-days, it’s not uncommon to have someone in your family that has had cancer, or a friend (who’s had it.) So we all have that connection,” Ross said. “I hope that when people come out, they see that vision – that these people in Knox County are making that step forward and trying to eliminate cancer so that the next family or their neighbors or their friends, they don’t have to hear those words, that they have cancer.”
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