The steering committee for Estevan's Relay for Life has set the dates for some special events.
The Relay Launch will happen on Saturday, March 2 at the Estevan Shoppers Mall, starting at noon. Estevan Relay event co-chair Patrick Fisher said there will be speeches by several committee chairs, and a beef on a bun lunch.
“We're doing it nice and early this year to get it into people's minds, and to get people thinking about creating teams,” said Fisher.
Last year's launch was held in late May, and Fisher said that it might have been too late. A launch three months before the Relay gets people thinking about the fundraiser now.
The next event will be the first-ever “Cookies for a Cure” tea and cookie sale on March 17, beginning at 2 p.m. at Estevan Diversified Services.
Loonies for Life will be launched in April. Jars will be placed at various businesses throughout the community as a fundraiser for the Relay.
May has been designated as Relay Month at the Estevan Shoppers Mall. The annual Relay Day will be May 11. Teams will have booths so that they can fundraise.
“The plan is to have, every weekend, some kind of major theme going for inside the mall,” said Fisher. “One will be a team recruitment drive. One will be based on recruiting survivors. One will be a luminary sales drive. There will be a history of the Relays that we've had … with pictures and memorabilia and that kind of stuff.”
Racing for a Cure will be held at the Estevan Motor Speedway on June 1 in conjunction with a regular program at the track that night.
In other Relay news, event organizers have received the go-ahead to create a hybrid indoor-outdoor track for this year's Relay, which will happen June 8 and 9. It will allow people to choose whether they want to walk the inside track at the Civic Auditorium, an outside track to the east of the Civic, or on both surfaces. There will be a connector for people who want to walk on both.
“I think it'll be the best of both worlds,” Fisher said.
Fisher said they are still looking for an event sponsor, and an honourary event chair – a survivor who can represent the Relay prior to and during the event. They're also looking for teams and volunteers.
