Festivities at the third annual Wilkes County Relay for Life began with the survivors walk around the track at the W-WPRD field off Lexington Avenue. After Friday night's third annual Wilkes County Relay for Life, all the hard work and planning has brought the cancer fund-raiser within sight of its goal.

"We are so close to the $35,000 goal," said Amy Treadwell. "As of Saturday morning closing we had raised $33,495, and there's still some more money to come in."

One more fund raiser-might just do it, she said. "We have until August 31 to turn in all money, so the Relay committee and any teams that want to participate will probably have one more fund-raiser to raise the rest. I hate to quit when we're so close."

In addition to the fund raising, walking, visiting and eating, Relay organizers gave away several awards during the all-night event. "The Best Campsite Award, first place, went to Senior Citizens Rocking. The Washington Police Department's Jail and Bail took sec

ond place, and third place in Best Campsite went to Little River Aloha Team," Treadwell said.

In the Team Karaoke contest, first place went to the Senior Citizens, second place to Washington Police, and third place to Regions Bank.

Awards given away on Saturday morning included the Spirit Award, won by Little River Aloha Team; and the Up All Night Award won by First Baptist Church. "The Rookie Relay team prize was a tie between Glit-Microtron and Church of the Mediator because they both worked so hard," she said.

The success of the county's third Relay for Life took months of work. "I would like to personally thank the Relay committee," Treadwell said. "The team captains who gave so much of their time to recruit team members, raise money, decorate campsites."

"I wanted to give special thanks to Donna Hardy, Mike Eskew, and

the Washington Sanitation Department for providing extra trash cans, and to Pete Gartrell for getting the Parks and Rec field ready."

She said she was grateful to Lamont and Cathy Lannae for helping with setup and cleanup and everything in between, and to Chris Townsend for helping with both set up and clean up.

"This is such a community event, and so many people helped in so many ways," she said. "Vonice Wells made Tiki torch bows, Ronnie Huffman provided the survivor tent, Bobby Jones and Jerry Hackney loaned their golf carts, and Southern Outdoors loaned the police department the jail enclosure, and EMS gave us all-night medical support, The News Reporter and WXKT gave us great coverage. And a special thanks to the community for coming out, supporting us and giving their money to Relay for Life."