The 24-hour relay is on the move.
The Relay For Life event, held annually each spring, is moving from Masich Stadium to Exhibition Park for 2018.
"A couple of years of big growth put us in the position of no longer being a fit at Masich Stadium," said Relay For Life coordinator Aimee Cassie. "We've been having this conversation for a few years, and for the past few months it has gone from something we were thinking about to something we were working with the City on. We put the planning into action."
The fact they could no longer squeeze all the relay's elements into the track facilities was a point all involved could agree on. The hurdle was pinpointing an alternative location. City of Prince George senior official Sean LeBrun was the one who came up with the idea that clicked: the site where the BCNE and various other annual events take place.
They give up the rubbery track material but they gain a lot of space, room to grow, and flexibility for the future as they maximize the region's contribution to cancer research, medical needs of cancer sufferers, and help for families undergoing treatments.
"This is huge," said master of ceremonies Doug Jones at the announcement of the big changes. He is also the honorary co-chair of this year's Relay For Life. "This is saving lives.That's what it's all about. It's not about, 'Hey we don't have a rubber track, we're going to be walking on asphalt.' If anyone complains about that, they can kiss my asphalt," he added with a chuckle.
"Our challenge now, and it's a wonderful one, is people," said Helen Owen, manager of annual giving for the Canadian Cancer Society in Prince George. "As long as we have the right people involved in organizing, there is really nothing we can't do at this new location."
Safety and public participation gets a big boost with this change of venue. Parking was problematic for the thousands of people at a time coming and going from the track, at all hours of the day and night. Now that is ample and right on the edge of the action.
Also getting a big bump up is the camping option. Tents and RVs can set up and uplift the team atmosphere like never before. There is room to establish strong bases of operations for participating teams and individuals, volunteers, and service providers, plus those can be set up on a friendlier schedule.
There is also nearly unlimited space for vendors, booths, food trucks, entertainment, and all manner of services to the event. And the track is not a nondescript oval anymore, but a shapely route that adds more visual stimulation for the walkers as they make their way around CN Centre, the Kin Centres and the exhibition grounds.
It turns the event into a full 24-hour community festival. They can even do fireworks, if they so choose.
The date is also changing from early May. Next year, the 24-hour Relay For Life will be held June 9-10.
With a major change in venue, and all that will mean for future fundraising and fun-raising opportunities, organizers felt now was the time to also adjust the date.
"A lot of teams and participants have been asking us for a change of date," said Cassie. "Mother's Day is not helpful for a lot of people, they have family plans going on, and the weather is also a consideration that early in the spring. They communicated to us that fundraising would be helped by moving a bit later into the year, and participation would be helped by the warmer weather. The change in location allowed us to do that."
"We get a lot of participation from people out of town, and we got indications that this would go up if the weather was more hospitable for RVing and tenting," said Owen. "It gives everyone a degree of added comfort. Being at Exhibition Park gives us that option, so we're excited about that development, too."
Last year's relay brought in more than $570,000 and for the fourth consecutive year, Prince George's relay fundraiser was tops in Canada.
