Staff Writer

Friday and Saturday will be the culmination of weeks of hard work.

Beginning Friday morning, the annual Relay for Life events will kick off with the Survivors Breakfast. That event will be at 8 a.m. at Park Memorial United Methodist Church.

At noon, Relay for Life teams can begin setting up their tents.

People will begin trickling in late that afternoon and the music will crank up at 4 p.m., followed by entertainment by Kinetic Energy and students of Troy School of Dance. They will perform a variety of dances, including the clogging.

At 6 p.m. the Opening Ceremonies of Relay for Life will begin. Those ceremonies will include the presentation of plaques to the event sponsors, introductions of survivors and honorary chairman Tony Scott and the young honorary chairman Anthony Romanczuk.

Those who have battled cancer and won will make the first lap and will be joined by family, friends and caregivers for lap number two.

"Cancer is definitely a family disease because you have to have someone by their side," Lynne Stone, member of the Relay for Life Committee, said of the second lap.

The third lap will be the Parade of Teams, which Stone said are the "lifeblood of Relay" because they are the ones that hold all kinds of events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

"That really kicks off the walk," Stone said of the teams being announced and beginning the walk that is meant to save lives, as well as remember those who fought the disease and won and those who lost the battle against cancer.

After that is done, the entertainment will resume and teams will have members constantly on the track.

At 8:45 p.m., organizers will be asking parents to round up their children, who will be enjoying activities, such as the Kids Korner sponsored by Troy Bank & Trust and the Twilighters.

Silence will blanket the field at 9 p.m. in preparation for the luminary service, which will include reading the names of cancer victims. Those in attendance will silently walk the track as the many names are read by cancer survivors.

"That is a solemn remembrance of what people have gone through because of cancer," Stone said.

Contestants in the Miz Relay competition will don their dresses, wigs and fix their faces for the womanless beauty pageant which brings tears of laughter to those in attendance.

Entertainment will continue through the night until the big moment at midnight. That’s when the total amount raised and top money raiser awards will be announced.

Stone said the Cancer Smart Shop and Relay Gear Shop will be open during the event. The Cancer Smart Shop is manned by medical personnel who can provide information about cancer and how to detect it early. The Relay Gear Shop will have t-shirts in all sizes and other items on sale.