Brightly decorated campsites are all a part of the fun during the Relay For Life of Upper Illinois Valley. Although this year’s Relay will be shortened to 12 hours, campsites will still be set up and a very competitive decorating contest will again take place. (Reporter photo)

MENDOTA – For the past six years, the Relay For Life of Upper Illinois Valley has been held at Lake Mendota with much support from the community.

This year’s Relay is planned for Saturday, July 15 beginning at 6 p.m. but with one major change. Rather than holding an all-night event as in past years, the 2017 Relay will conclude at midnight and the closing ceremony will take place at that time.

Relay committee member Sandi Maas explained that the committee felt the shortened timeframe would be more manageable for participants. Although campsites will still be set up and decorated to the hilt, the committee hoped that changing to a six-hour event would be better for people wishing to take part in the Relay.

“We’re still going to have our campsite decorating contest and many of the other fun activities that we held before – along with some new events,” Mass emphasized. “The only difference is that we’ll have the closing ceremony at midnight and people won’t have to stay overnight.”

In addition to being an important fundraiser, Relay For Life is a celebration of peoples’ success in overcoming cancer as well as a memorial to those who have been lost to cancer. As a major fundraising effort, Relay benefits local community members who are now faced with cancer. Maas stressed that most of the money raised during the Relay stays within the community. This annual event allows cancer patients from this area to take part in many American Cancer Society programs at no cost. Funding of programs such as rides to appointments, Look Good . . . Feel Good, Road to Recovery, and free wigs is made possible through the Relay, as well as support for life-saving research by the ACS.

Relay schedule

As in previous years, prior to the opening of the Relay on July 15 a free survivor dinner will take place from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at the Mendota Civic Center. Each survivor attending the dinner is welcome to bring a guest; sign-in will begin at 4:15 p.m.

Maas noted that there is still plenty of time to sign up a new Relay team or join an existing one. In fact, teams can register right up until the day of the Relay. There is no entry fee to participate and there is no minimum amount teams are required to raise.

Teams are welcome to set up their campsites any time on June 15. Registration at the event will begin at 4 p.m. Golf carts will again be available for transportation to and from parking areas and also around the grounds for anyone with mobility difficulties.

The Relay’s opening ceremony will get started at 6 p.m. with a color guard, local scouting troops and emcee Sloppy Joe. This year’s opening ceremony speaker will be survivor Virjean Haywood. The DJ for this year’s event will be Diligent DJ Service.

Following the opening ceremony, the Survivors’ Lap will be the first to walk the track. For the next lap, the survivors will be joined by their supporters for the Caregivers’ Lap. After that, everyone - friends, family and the public - will be invited to take part in the walk.

When people are taking a break from walking, a variety of fun activities for all ages have been planned. Both kids’ games and adult yard games will be played from 7-9 p.m. The games are open to the public and everyone is invited to join in the fun.

Maas said one of the new events will be a “photo scavenger hunt” in which people will have to find the hidden objects, snap a picture of them on their phone and be the first to complete the entire list. There will also be a Scrabble Lap, Marshmallow Golf and a “Dessert Walk” from 8-9 p.m. – reminiscent of a Cake Walk but with a variety of desserts.

Speaking of food, be sure to stop by and support the food vendors who will be set up during the event and also browse through the array of silent auction items. Bids will be accepted up until the auction closes at 10 p.m.

The Luminaria Ceremony will be another highlight of the Relay beginning at 9 p.m. Luminarias are available to purchase online prior to the Relay for $10 each. They may also be purchased at the event.

Following the Luminaria Ceremony, Mendota band Dellong’s Got Gehm will begin playing at 10 p.m.

Maas noted that as always, volunteers are welcome to come and help out during set up the morning of the Relay July 15 and also during break down the next morning.

“I really want to encourage the public to come out to the Relay this year, take part in the activities, and support the vendors,” Maas said. “We have always received great support from the community and we hope that will continue again this year.”

For questions or more information about the Relay, contact committee members Rita Borelli at (815) 910-5093, Nancy Jackson at (815) 830-4179 or Sandi Maas at (815) 539-5418.

To make a donation to Relay For Life of Upper Illinois Valley, to sign up or to join a team, visit www.relayforlife.org/upperillinoisvalleyil.