Kane Relay Weekend Kicks Off with Parade Thursday on Fraley Street

Tuesday night organizers for this year’s Kane Area Relay for Life (RFL) produced two floats for Thursday's mega parade (6 p.m. on Fraley Street in Uptown Kane) with the theme “Celebrating Birthdays” complete with picnic table for partying, tons of gifts and candles for the cake.

Organizers hope everyone in the area will come out and support this effort. Bring the whole family, invite your neighbors, colleagues and friends to the parade and Friday-Saturday event. The parade will include walkers from the 20 plus teams, Zem Zem cars, floats, music, Miss Relay Contestants, dignitaries, fire department, The Twin Tiers Action Van (with Igor and Anne) and local businesses and much more.

The parade is the kickoff event of Relay for Life that begins noon Friday and runs until noon Saturday at the Kane Area High School Track. Come to the track and bring your family and friends, enjoy "Just Having Fun" Polka Band from 2-4 p.m. on Friday, stay for supper (concession stand open from 4 p.m. until midnight) and tent to tent games and fun, raffles. The moving survivor ceremony starts at 7 p.m., the Miss Relay Contest at 8 p.m., luminary ceremony (9:30 p.m.) with lighted memories. On Saturday breaskfast is served at 6 a.m., Zumba exercise at 7 a.m., and at 9 a.m. 4x4 races (bring your best team to race against defending champions) and 11 a.m closing ceremonies when fundraising totals will be announced, along with winners of many raffles.

Relay for Life is the signature fundraising effort of the American Cancer Society (ACS). ACS fights for every birthday threatened by cancer. The Kane Area Relay for Life team members count for 300 of ACS’s more than three million volunteers worldwide helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investments in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight.

As the nation's largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contribution about $3.4 billion, ACS turns what they know about cancer into what they do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. Sixty percent of the money raised by Kane Area Relay stays in the community for patient care and services. Forty percent goes to cancer research. If you or someone you know has been recently diagnosed, please call the ACS to register or to get help, call ACS anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.

Pictured, organizers waiting for the party/parade to start on board the heavily gifted float; Marianne Rook, Chair of 2010 Relay for Life, with Mary Sewell, survivor and organizer; and Shirley Morgan, Co-Chair for 2010 and Chair of the 2011 Relay for Life work to create flames for candles for parade floats; two floats awaiting debut at parade, complete with presents and candles.
Story and photos courtesy of Ruth Gentilman Peterson