Relay event draws 400 participants

FALLS VILLAGE — A virtual tent city grew on the football field at Housatonic Valley Regional High School June 5, as more than 400 people in 50 teams came out for the weekend-long Relay for Life cancer walk.

Last year, about 300 people participated.

In the American Cancer Society-sponsored event, comunity members form teams that walk  from evening until morning in honor of cancer victims and cancer survivors. Teams gather sponsors who donate money to cancer care and research.

This year’s top fundraising teams were, in order, Best and Cavallaro Real Estate in Salisbury ($15,850); What Would Stevie Do ($12,684.82); Emergency Extreme Team ($11,654.50); Wings of Hope ($3,105) and Team Extreme ($2,853.01).

Activities are scheduled throughout the evening. Live bands played, a pizza party was held, children cavorted in a bounce house in the middle of the field. There was a field trip of sorts, inside, to the school cafeteria when the rain  began to pour down and the winds picked up.

But it was really about the walking. Team members walked together, or took turns. Many had elaborately designed tent spaces.

Everyone had stories to share about family and friends who had died from cancer; many young people recognized that cancer had taken their parents, aunts and uncles at a young age and would likely strike them as well.

And so they walked.

To learn more about Relay for Life events around the country, go online to relayforlife.org.

For photo, turn to Page A15