Courthouse Square gets ready for Relay for Life

The event's fund-raising goal is $551,000.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- For the first time, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life will be in downtown's Courthouse Square this week.
The 24-hour event, which will be from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday, is expected to draw at least 1,000 participants.
"From the city's perspective, we're very excited about it. We'll be able to showcase downtown," said Mayor Michael O'Brien. "It's really going to be a beautiful venue," he said of Courthouse Square.
"This is the Warren relay. Courthouse Square is the center of Warren," said Donna Shaw, the relay's public relations coordinator, explaining the choice of the location.
More than 90 teams with 10 to 15 walkers or runners each will participate. More than 90 tents for teams, vendors and survivors will be set up in Courthouse Square park. Each team will have at least one walker or runner on the course, which follows the perimeter of the park, around the clock.
Security
Thirty-seven city police officers will donate their time to provide round-the-clock security; Action Ambulance is donating the services of an ambulance that will be positioned at the event; and mounted sheriff's deputies will be on patrol, the mayor said.
The event headquarters will be in the log cabin at Monument Park, and the Franklin Street parking deck will offer free parking all weekend. Many forms of entertainment will be offered over both days, including music, talent contests and children's games.
The mayor, a cancer survivor, will be a speaker at the event's Friday kickoff rally at the gazebo, and he will walk the first lap with other cancer survivors led by the Warren G. Harding High School marching band. Fireworks will be launched from Perkins Park after a luminaria ceremony Friday evening.
Outback Steakhouse is donating the survivors' dinner Friday evening. Survivors will also have a free pancake breakfast Saturday morning provided by the Harding band.
"Relay for Life is all about the survivors. We're here to support the cancer survivors. We're here to find a cure, and the goal of the American Cancer Society is to find a cure by the year 2015," Shaw explained. Cancer survival rates have been rising annually, she added.
Little Johnny's Cafe on Courthouse Square will be open around the clock, and other downtown restaurants and merchants plan to have extended hours, the mayor said.
Goals
The event's fund-raising goal is $551,000, slightly above the total of $543,433 raised in the event last year at Mollenkopf Stadium, where it was Ohio's largest Relay for Life.
This year marks the 13th year for the event, which has been held annually until now at the stadium, with the exception of one year at the Kent State University Trumbull Campus.
The event is moving to Courthouse Square this year because of the imminent start of construction of the new Warren G. Harding High School next to the stadium, Shaw said.
O'Brien also observed that tent stakes can't be driven into the stadium's newly installed artificial turf.
Because of the event, city streets bordering Courthouse Square will be closed to motor vehicles from 6 p.m. Thursday to 10 p.m., Saturday, with the exception of the east side of North Park Avenue, which will be open to two-way traffic. The west side of Park Avenue won't reopen until the afternoon of May 15.
The Relay for Life is the society's main fund-raising event, and most of the money raised is used for local ACS programs, Shaw said.
"Our community has always supported the Relay for Life. It's one of the largest Relays for Life in the entire country, and I think it's important now that we support the Relay for Life in downtown Warren," the mayor said.
Among the society's services are a host of education and support groups, a program in which survivors visit cancer patients, scholarships for survivors, a skin and hair care advice class for female patients, a summer camp for children with cancer, and smoking cessation programs. The local office is in Canfield.
Other Trumbull County Relay for Life events will be May 19 and 20 at Liberty High School, June 9 and 10 at Lakeview High School in Cortland, and June 23 and 24 at Lordstown High School.
milliken@vindy.com