Ashe County Relay for Life annual cancer awareness fundraising event is set to take place beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 13 at the Ashe County High School track in West Jefferson.

Team captains for the annual event are organizing teams and volunteers. The first meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 12 at Mount Jefferson Presbyterian Church in West Jefferson. Anyone interested in participating is invited to attend (and bring a friend!).

This first meeting will focus on fundraising. Bring your ideas and samples to share.

Relay for Life is an overnight relay-style event with teams of people camping out around a track. Members of each team take turns walking around the track for the duration of the event, which ends Saturday morning. There are vendors, food, games and activities providing entertainment and fundraising opportunities for the teams. It is a family-friendly environment for the entire community.

Relay starts with a Survivors Lap when cancer survivors are invited to circle the track together and help everyone celebrate the victories achieved over cancer with a release of balloons. Caregivers are also recognized for giving their time, love, and support to those who face cancer.

At dark, a luminaria ceremony is held to honor people who have been touched by cancer and to remember loved ones lost to the disease. Candles are lit inside bags filled with sand, each with the name of a person touched by cancer written on the bag, and participants often walk a lap around the track in silence.

For more information, contact Adam Binder, community manager for Ashe, at adam.binder@cancer.org or call 828-406-4429.

You can also register online before the meeting and find out more information at www.relayforlife.org/ashenc or

http://relay.acsevents.org/site/R?i=9E5AhLMxNgBiNB-7zdQORQ.

(Photo: Relay for Life survivor's first lap 2010)