The battle for research to find a cure for cancer never ends, and after months of fundraising, volunteer work and planning, the 2015 version of Clinton County’s Relay For Life is here once again.

The Relay For Life event will be held this Saturday, April 25 with the theme “A Carnival of Hope.” The event, with a somewhat altered format, will be held once again at the Clinton County High School but this year’s hours will be from 3 to 10:30 p.m., a seven and-a-half-hour program.

Festivities, weather permitting, will begin outside with several events taking place, including carnival type games, inflatables for the children, clowns and other carnival-type theme activities.

The program events will move indoors to the CCHS gymnasium at 6 p.m. and will begin there with the annual survivor lap for those who have survived the dreaded disease of cancer.

Several types of festivities, including games, music, concessions and more will take place, as well as guest speakers taking the stage. This year’s cancer survivor guest speaker will be Tonda Thompson.

The activities will begin to culminate at 9 a.m. with the lighting of the luminary’s in honor of survivors and in memory of those who lost their battle with cancer. The events will end around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

During 2014, the Clinton County Relay For Life program raised just over $50,000, somewhat below their goal and also below past years, but still a very high amount for a county with the population size of Clinton. In fact, the local Relay For Life organization was presented earlier this year for being in the top 10 percentile in this region of the amount of funds raised.

This year is expected to be even better, as a goal of $51,000 has been set. However, going into Saturday’s main event, the local program volunteers, through generous donations from businesses, organizations, schools, individuals and more, had raised $47,090.00, according to Relay For Life volunteer Lorie Dalton.

The American Cancer Society would like to thank all of the volunteers working tirelessly to help ensure 2015 has one of the best Relay For Life event’s ever in Clinton County.

Relay For Life is the largest volunteer and community driven fundraising event for cancer research and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Local volunteers were among those nationwide that were recognized for their efforts last week during National Volunteer Week.

Relay For Life is a chance for communities to fight back against cancer. It’s a chance to honor those who are currently fighting cancer, those who have beat it, and those brave individuals who have lost their lives to the disease. It’s a night for the community to come together to walk and run around the track to raise money to fight a disease that has claimed too many of its neighbors.

It is also a chance to celebrate and remember.

The entire community, especially cancer survivors and their families and friends, are invited and encouraged to attend any or all of the Relay For Life events this Saturday afternoon and evening at the high school.

If you would like more information about this year’s Relay For Life, contact Adam Smedberg at 270-745-1963 or at adam.smedberg@cancer.org, or see any local Relay For Life volunteer.

Relay for Life schedule of events

3:00 Welcoming Announcement

3:00- 5:30 Carnival campsite activities including:

Inflatable ride, dunk booth, games and activities, including cake walk, silent auction

5:00 Survivor registration and reception begins

6:00 Opening Ceremony, Survivor Recognition, Survivor Lap, Caretaker Lap, Balloon Launch

7:00-9:00 Carnival campsite activities

(Cake walk, Silent Auction will end at 9:00 p.m.)

9:00 Luminaria Ceremony

10:00 Closing Ceremony