Relay for Life walkers circle the Joe Floyd Track during last year's event. This year the 24-hour walkathon will be held at the KANA Field on Woody Way. The forecast for Friday night and Saturday is looking favorable, as it was last year. Brianna Gibbs/KMXT photo

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            Friday kicks off another round of Kodiak Relay for Life, the 24 hour relay that raises funds to help fight and prevent cancer. This year the event will see a few changes, the biggest one being location. Angela McFarland is the event chair for Kodiak relay and said the event will not take place at its usual location of Baranof Park.            

             "Huge change this year is that we are not going to be at Baranof Park this year, because they are ripping it up and putting a new football field in," McFarland said. "So we are moving into the woody way park, which for a lot of people it's always been called the KANA field. So we're going to be over there this year. It's wonderful, the city, Ian has helped make it work for us as far as the pathway and making a pseudo track for us."

            McFarland said the new location will allow food vendors and extra parking, with special parking for cancer survivors. In addition to the new location, McFarland said participants shouldn't be surprised if they see some Disney characters joining in on the festivities.

            "Our theme this year is Disney, so when you come down there will be lots of Disney oriented booths. But also on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. have Disney characters coming."

            In fact, McFarland said Mickey and Minnie Mouse will help kick off the opening ceremonies, which will begin with the traditional survivor lap for locals who have fought and won the battle against cancer. Following the opening lap will be two new laps.   

            "Our opening ceremonies this year and then this year we are going to have a medical caregiver lap, which is a special lap basically so we can say thank you to all those people out there that have helped anybody who has fought cancer, is fighting cancer or that has passed away from cancer. Just so they know that we hugely appreciate them and make sure that they know they are equally special to our survivors because they have helped our survivors become survivors. So that is going to directly follow the survivor lap. And then the girl scouts have asked this year if they could have a special lap for Donna Carlson who passed away this year from cancer. So we will have that directly following the medical lap."

            There are 31 teams signed up for the relay, but McFarland said they have room for 35. So far the fundraising efforts of those teams have raised $28,000, quite a bit less than their goal of $75,000. McFarland said they are definitely aiming high with that number, but are hoping the weather will cooperate and community members will show up.

            Opening ceremonies start at 6 p.m. on Friday, and closing ceremonies will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday.