Grant County hosted a Relay for Life event April 16-17 raising more than $22,300.

Photograph by Stephanie Coren


The Relay for Life of Grant County was held April 16-17 in the UW-P Williams Fieldhouse. There was a total of 54 teams and 399 participants. About $22,300 was raised during this two-day period.

The event, held in the Pioneer Activity Center, began with the opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. on Friday and ended with the final lap at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

The opening ceremonies consisted of local veterans, local boy scout troops, cub scout troops and local girl scout troops waving flags as they walked one lap around the track to the sound of the national anthem. Once the lap was completed the local survivors of breast cancer made a lap around the track. The local survivors participating in this lap ranged from 17 to 87 years old.

“The opening ceremonies were really touching to see all of the support from the community,” Brianna Hardginski, freshman elementary education major, said.

Also in the opening ceremony, the DJ announced that they would be hosting the Ms. Relay contest which is when every team that wished to participate dressed a male on their team to walk for two hours around the track trying to get donations from onlookers or even those participating in the walk. The team that raised the most money in those two hours was crowned Ms. Relay. All of the money donated to the participants of the competition was put towards each team’s total donations for Relay for Life.

Once each team’s name was called from a list of participants, the team was to begin their walking time. Most teams had two-hour blocks of walking times. Teams consisted of companies from the surrounding area, university organizations and residence halls.

“Relay for Life was a fun and tiring experience. Walking wasn’t too bad but the staying over night was exhausting. It was for a great cause so it was all worth the while,” Hardginski said.

Relay for Life also consisted of a remembrance lap that occurred at 11 p.m. This lap was an emotional trip for some people. The lap was a silent lap for those who had lost a loved one. The only noise to be made was a local singing group singing songs of remembrance such as “Amazing Grace” in hushed tones. Over this choir were three volunteers who read the names of community members that lost their lives to cancer.

Throughout the night, teams could walk either on the inside track in the PAC or on the outside track until midnight. The DJ left at midnight and a boom-box was hooked up to speakers to play for those who were walking, but not so loud as to bother those who were trying to sleep.

Throughout the night there were more themed laps such as a cha-cha lap as well as laps moving in reverse directions. Freshman criminal justice major Brittany Raehsler thought that the event could have used a few more activities throughout the late night hours.

“It was a fun environment but needed more interactions later in the night and early in the morning,” Raehsler said.