For the last nine years, Washington native Josh Marshall has been asking to have a Relay For Life event in Washington.

This weekend, his request will finally become a reality with the first Washington Relay For Life starting at 4 p.m. Friday and continuing until noon Saturday at the Washington Community High School track.

“This year, the American Cancer Society asked me if I would like to chair an event in Washington,” Marshall said. “I just think this is our time.”

Marshall said Washington is a growing community and that other communities, such as Morton and East Peoria, have their own Relay For Life events.

“To me, I thought it was important to have one for us and to get Washington’s name on the map.”

Teams of four to eight people raise money through pledges and fundraisers leading up to the event, Marshall said.

Team captains and members create a walking schedule for the event.

“We just ask that someone from each team is on the track from 4 p.m. until noon,” Marshall said.

Theresa McHenry shares Marshall’s enthusiasm for the event.
McHenry said this year will be her eighth Relay For Life event.

“The 4-H team I am involved with formed a team a few years ago in honor of Judy Seibert, who led the Cloverpatch Kids 4-H group until I took over a year before she was diagnosed with cancer,” McHenry said.

In the past few years, McHenry said the 4-H team has participated at the Eureka and the Metamora Relay For Life events.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to have one in Washington,” McHenry said. “When Marshall told me that Washington would have its own Relay this year, I was ecstatic.”

McHenry said she would invite everyone to come to the event and consider forming a team.

“You don’t know what you’re missing until you are a part of it,” McHenry said.

“In the past, I wanted to be walking around a track in Washington with my friends from Washington,” McHenry said, adding that this year, she will be able to participate with her entire family.

McHenry said her teams are Clovers For A Cure I and II, which include about 16 members.

A survivor’s banquet will kick off the event from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Washington Park District building.

“At 5:30 p.m., the survivors will be sent to the track, and our honorary survivors, Paul Neakrase and Dana Frantz, will speak,” Marshall said.

This year’s theme is “The Red Carpet Premiere.”

The survivor’s lap will be a red carpet lap, Marshall said.
Marshall said an opening ceremony will be at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by the luminaria ceremony at 9:30 p.m.

Luminarias are lighted bags someone buys in honor of either a cancer survivor or a loved one who died from cancer.

A silent auction will run from 4 to 7:30 p.m., along with a variety of activities throughout the night, Marshall said.

“At 1 a.m., we will have a Hollywood lap, where participants can dress up as their favorite movie star,” Marshall said.

A Washington celebrity version of the TV Fear Factor will start at midnight.

“One of the things that is new to all Relay For Life events is a fight-back ceremony, which is a chance for everybody to pledge they will do something to fight cancer,” Marshall said, adding the ceremony will follow the luminaria lighting.

Throughout the night, the following bands will perform at the event: from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Addison, a local band, will play; from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., Lucus Doremus, a WCHS graduate and Millikin University music major will play; and from 9 to 11 a.m. Kyle Yocum, another WCHS graduate, will play.

So far, Marshall said about 120 people are signed up for the event, along with l2 teams and more than 20 survivors.

“Our original goal was to have 20 teams signed up, but I think moneywise, we will be right where we need to be,” Marshall said.
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Marshall at 635-8123.

Marshall said teams can sign up for the event until 4 p.m. Friday.

“I am extremely excited and think we will have a great first year,” Marshall said. “I am looking forward to seeing people come out and find out more about Relay For Life.”