Photos: Relay for Life meets Mitchell Park

Purple ribbons and balloons lined Main Road Saturday, leading the way to Mitchell Park in Greenport where the annual Relay for Life fundraiser was hosted for the first time.

Participants from as far as Coram and Stony Brook came out for the event, which started at noon and continues to midnight. Survivors wearing white sashes walked the park with supporters, many sporting creative T-shirts.

The event, which benefits the American Cancer Society, featured a survivor lap, a candlelight walk at dusk and a Luminaria ceremony scheduled for 9:30 p.m. to honor those who have died or are battling cancer.

Throughout the day there were plenty of fun performances, games, raffles, snack and coffee stations. A henna tattoo artist was even on had to keep participants busy.

For the past eight years, Southold Relay for Life hosted the event at Jean Cochran Park in Peconic, and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research. This year’s goat is to put the chapter over the $1 million mark.

Mattituck seniors Lauren Waters and Brittany Longley, who were serving snow cones, said the new location was a refreshing change.

“I like the setting on the water. It’s right off main street so it gets people to stop by,” Ms. Waters said. “In Peconic it was kind of hidden, so not as many people could see it was going on.”

Judi Mogul of Cutchogue, who was there with her family, which includes three survivors, said she missed the Peconic location.

“I loved it there. But all that counts is the final figure and if the shift helps it, then that’s fabulous,” she said.

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