Relay For Life Paints Pat-Med Purple

Kick-off events to "Paint the Town Purple" for the fifth annual Patchogue-Medford Relay for Life were recently held at Rider Ave Park in Patchogue Village and Medford Memorial Park in Medford.

Beth Capek, chairperson of the , described the Relay for Life event, which raises money for the American Cancer Society.

"Paint the Towns Purple" traditionally take place a month before Relay to create awareness of the final event in June. [June's event is] a 12-hour event because the slogan is 'Cancer doesn't sleep so why should we?' It's a culmination of all the fundraising that we started in February. This is our celebration for everything that we have done as well continue to fundraise throughout the evening," Capek said.

At the June 4 event at , participants will form teams where at least one member must stay on the track at all times.

In commemoration of the events, a purple line was painted down Main Street as well as a portion of Rt. 112. Purple ribbons were tied to street lamps along Main Street and Ocean Avenue by volunteers from Patchogue Village. Medford Memorial Park was cleaned up and decorated by Boy Scout Troop 340. Several businesses in Patchogue and Medford turned their storefronts purple through decorations and by displaying purple merchandise.

Denise Adamo is a publicty coordinator for Relay For Life.

"This year we wanted to do something really special. This is the fifth year that we are doing the Relay. We decided to do 'Paint the Towns Purple' and try to get the whole community involved and united," Adamo said.

In 2010, the by their June event from 78 teams.

The organizers are hoping to raise at least $100,000 this year as well as have over 100 teams. The Relay for Life event will be hosted at the Patchogue-Medford High School from 6:00 p.m. on Saturday June 4 overnight until 6:00 a.m. Sunday June 5th. For more information, to register a team, or to donate please visit the website.