This past weekend was our Relay For Life event. Like most Relays, there were some glitches along the way, but nothing too stressful (at first). Saturday was a picture perfect day, until later in the evening when storms started to roll through.
We delayed the start of our Luminaria Ceremony in hopes that we’d miss the rain, but then heard that it was going to rain throughout the night, so we proceeded. The Luminaria spelling HOPE in the bleachers were illuminated as a poem was read, then we started to light the candles as the names were read. That’s when the wind gust hit. Bags started blowing over and going up in flames … and a committee member had to stomp out the HOPE Luminaria (they didn’t have names on them). We then blew out the rest of the candles. The only image in my mind is that of the bags on the bleachers going up in flames … it looked like sparks flying as the bags ignited.
The weather report looked as if the entire night would be filled with rain and gusty winds. And we were already seeing a lot of lightning… some bolts were large and close, and a few tents were destroyed. We made the decision to start sending people home, and asked them to come back in the morning. We also asked that they help gather up the Luminaria, all 2095 of them, and take them into our Cancer Ed tent so they wouldn’t blow all over the stadium. We then got word that the storm front passing through was going to go around us, so we immediately got the word out that we were staying open. Unfortunately, some had already left. After midnight, everything cleared up, and we continued with the music.
