Mark of Fun — Rebecca Sheets holds her daughter, 19-month-old Allison, while she gets her face painted by Sunshine the Clown (Lucy Rowe) in the kids tent during the Alleghany County Relay for Life.

Relay raises $26,000 for cancer

The Alleghany County Relay for Life netted about $26,000 for cancer research, but still fell well short of last year's $32,000 total, according to event co-chair Ellen Wright.

"I think the biggest impact was the economy," Wright said. "In year's past we had teams from Bristol Compressors, Spring Ford, Bassett-Walker and others."

Those major employers were also donors to the relay, Wright said. "When you lose the teams and the sponsorship money, that really adds up quickly." Considering the economic situation here, Wright said that she is pleased with the money raised. "Overall, we feel like we did pretty well."

Highlights of the event included a dunking booth, which was popular with many of the attendees. Noteables in the booth included Dr. John Kovacich, commissioners Charity Gambill and Patrick Woodie, Sheriff Mike Caudill and others. The booth helped raise more than $100. "That's quite a bit at three balls for a dollar," Wright commented.

An auction hosted by Tom Atwood raised about $600, with numerous baked goods and handmade items sold.

A total of 426 luminaries were sold this year, a new record for the county. Luminaries, which are sold for $10 each, are purchased in memory of, or in honor of, someone who has battled cancer. The luminaries are lighted around the track when the sun goes down Friday night.

"They were packed in pretty tightly this year around the track," Widener said. "We'll definitely make room for more if we need to."

Numerous survivors attended the event to walk the opening lap this year. "We had 53 survivors this year, and that's a real good turnout," Wright said. Overall, there were 23 teams involved in the relay. Raising the most money for the event was the Sparta Presbyterian Church team, headed up by Jeff Jolly. "We'll know more as the money continues to come in," Wright noted. "But right now it looks like they will have the most."

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