Relay for Life 2018 Take 1

On Friday night, I attended the Rapides Parish Relay for Life in Alexandria, Louisiana with a fellow relay friend of mine. We love attending different relays as we gain new ideas and experiences from other's events!

This event is about a 2 hour drive or so from our home. We made great timing and even arrived early!

Our first objective was to scope out the place - check out the venue, look around at the team booths, and talk to committee members.

Their theme this year was a Louisiana based theme as "Relay on the Red" (River, that is). This booth was by far our favorite! They even had a pirouge in their tent! (Pronounced pee-row which means boat in Cajun French)

Tobacco Free Living was there with a booth and they were even handing out free shirts, promoting their Smoke Free Louisiana campaign!

One of my favorite parts of relay is the food.  Although the pastalaya looked temping (a combination between jambalya and pasta), we decided on cheeseburgers from the Target booth and frozen lemonade from one of the hospital booths!

The band. Oh my goodness the band was GREAT! They played all evening and did an awesome job!

Around 7 p.m., the survivor lap took place. This lap celebrated cancer survivors of all ages, all diagnoses, and all stages of treatment/remission. What an awesome sight to see!

One of the great things about this relay was the venue. It was located on the river, had great seating and easy access to the food!

Food? How about dessert! Ok!

So many cakeballs, I couldn't decide! I ate the funfetti one that evening and brought the strawberry one home for later! Delicious!

Around 9 p.m., the luminaria ceremony took place. This is by far the most touching part of relay and one where we spend a little time of reflection of those who have lost their fight with cancer. We also take time to honor the survivors and the reason we keep pressing on with our goal of creating a world with less cancer.

In the left hand corner of this picture, across the lake, you'll see the word "HOPE". These were luminaria bags filled with sand and a candle. I love how the fireworks took place right behind it!

Such a great end to an overall amazing evening!

We didn't stay long after the fireworks because we still had a solid 2 hour drive and I had a race to run the following morning. Come to think of it, maybe I should relay before every race from now on! Hah!

 

Thanks for the invite, Rapides! We enjoyed our evening and we especially enjoyed relaying with you!