Relay for Life Returns This Weekend for Sixth Year in Ocean City

American Cancer Society Relay for Life luminary ceremony

The annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life will return to Ocean City for its sixth year on Saturday (June 2) on the track at Carey Stadium behind Ocean City High School.

The Relay for Life is an all-night celebration that honors the lives of people battling cancer, remembers those who have died of the disease and raises money in the search for a cure.

Participating teams take pledges and take turns walking or running around the track from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday. But anybody is invited to attend, to donate and to remember. Participants camp out all night and enjoy an array of activities and entertainment.

________________________________ To sign up, donate or find more information: relayforlife.org/oceancitynj ________________________________  New this year are activities for kids set up by the new Boardwalk Bounce attraction on the Ocean City Boardwalk. The tentative event schedule is as follows:

• 4:30 PM - Registration/Campsite Setup/Luminaria Sales Begin
• 6:00 PM - Opening Ceremony
• 6:20 PM - Survivor/Caregiver Lap
• 6:30 PM - Team Banner Lap/Survivor Dinner (Survivor Tent)
• 6:30 - 10 PM - Activities with Boardwalk Bounce
• 7:30 PM - "Ocean City: The Musical"
• 8:00 PM - Water Balloon Relay/Introduce Ms. Relay Contestants
• 8:30 PM - Zumba
• 9:30 PM - Ms. Relay Winner Announced
• 10:00 PM - Luminaria Ceremony
• 10:30 PM - Green Lantern Glow Stick Lap
• 11:00 PM - Fight Back Ceremony
• 12:00 AM - Box Car Derby
• 1:00 AM - Scavenger Hunt
• 2:00 AM - Relay's Got Talent Sign-Ups
• 2:30 AM - Relay's Got Talent
• 4:00 AM - Pajama Lap
• 5:00 AM - Litter Lap
• 5:30 AM - Breakfast
• 6:00 AM - Closing Ceremony on Boardwalk

Participants can sign up for text-message alerts about upcoming ceremonies, laps and activities.

The event has raised as much as $124,000 in a single year. The local event was founded six years ago by Ocean City High School graduate Brittany Ang and a friend who lost her mother to brain cancer, Allison Iudica.

One of the most emotional parts of the event will take place about 11 p.m. when participants display candlelit bags decorated to honor loved ones lost to cancer. This "Luminaria Ceremony" also includes a slideshow of friends and family affected by the disease.