BILLINGS — Since 1999, thousands of Relay for Life of Yellowstone participants have walked the track at West High School in Billings, always meeting up on the second Friday in July to raise a lot of money, but this year, the laps are moving lakeside at MetraPark and that’s not the only change.
“We have the pond here that will be turned purple. So the luminaries will all be around the pond area for our survivors,” says Renea Parker, Relay for Life of Yellowstone Co-Chair and Billings Clinic Cancer Center Community Relations.
It's all about color at this year’s Relay for Life. A purple pond and also purple crush drinks in the pavilion, a variation of Tiny Tavern’s popular orange crush, designed to crush out cancer.
“This is more of a festival and a celebration really, of everyone coming together to celebrate. Traditionally we will have where you can walk and the luminaries, of course. Those are the big key parts of relay, and we don't ever want to not have those, but for it to be in a little different atmosphere,” says Andrea Arredondo, Senior Development Manager for the American Cancer Society.
The date is also different, moved to September 14th, 2024, a fall Saturday, designed to keep survivors cool while raising cash to fight cancer. $350,000 is the goal, adding to the more than 10-million dollars that’s been raised since record-keeping began in 2000.
“Right now we're trying to really meet that goal,” says Carisa Hamrell, Relay for Life of Yellowstone Team Chair and Altana Federal Credit Union Team Captain.
This relay is always in the top ten worldwide for fundraising, but this year the emphasis is on having fun in person with the organization noting a dwindling attendance at the track since Covid.
“We have Supaman. If you haven't seen him before, he's amazing. He's going to come and do a healing dance,” says Arredondo.
From healing to hope, there’s a lot in store to drive up attendance and funds, and even drive patients to and from treatment long after the event is over via the organization’s Ride to Recovery program.“There's an app and you schedule, you go in and schedule your rides after you're initially set up. They help you download the app, and then in there it's kind of like Uber, so you can schedule your ride and then that person knows when to come and pick you up,” says Arredondo.
Eight local drivers are making life easier for patients who need a ride to chemo or radiation when caregivers are at work.
“We're always looking for more drivers, but when we can help with local rides that helps us stretch the grant dollars,” says Arredondo. The event is set to end with a drone show, back for the second year.
Anyone can register for the event for free via the website and start fundraising, or you can attend free simply to check out the Relay for Life of Yellowstone Festival of Hope. The organization has a goal of 75 teams and currently nearly 40 have registered.
