They came with canopies and sleeping bags, balloons and sneakers, snacks and bead strings – the eleven teams signed up for first-ever Orcas Island Relay for Life, spearheaded by Orcas Fire Dept. volunteer Valerie Moriarity. The American Cancer Society event took place continuously from Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. to Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at a track created at the Orcas Island high school baseball field.

The Lions Club donated the use of, and pitched and took down, their big tent, dubbed the “Rehab Tent” for the Relayers’ continual refreshment. Inside that tent, a round-the-clock banquet of food was provided – chicken breasts from Rosario which Jimmy Mudd barbecued for Saturday night, with plenty of leftovers for buckets of chicken salad on Sunday. Homegrown donated granola, and Toby and Tina Brown of the Orcas Volunteer Fire Department, made scrambled eggs (195 of them) and bagels for breakfast. Moriarity donated a heft 20-pound-plus salmon, caught in Orcas waters to the feast.

For entertainment, Leslie Seamans lined up volunteer musicians from the Sundays in the Park program, who entertained on a sound system donated by the Funhouse and set up by Doug Bechtel. Two movies, beginning at midnight, were shown to the vigilant Relayers.

Chappy’s provided the essential port-a-potties, and San Juan Sanitation donated garb age services.

The Orcas School District donated the use of the baseball field, and Maintenance Manager David Mierau mowed the field in advance, and was called to the rescue when the sprinkler system went on at 2 a.m., soaking several of the tents on the north end of the field. Inventive and desperate, Relayers from Islanders’ Bank and Ray’s Pharmacy put their ice chests atop the sprinklers and sat on them until Mierau turned the sprinklers off.

Orcas High School Key Club members, the Rays of Hope from Ray’s Pharmacy, Country Corner Crusaders, Frontline Call Center’s Headset Hot Shots and Islanders Bank Believers were directly affected, with sprinklers on both sides shooting into the Islanders’ tent.

The sprinkler scramble was foremost in many Relayers’ minds as the event drew to a close, but further reflection led them to speak of the deeper meaning of the Relay for Life.

Lori Hassenmiller of the Country Corner Crusaders said her most memorable moment was the Survivors’ Lap at the beginning of the race. Virginia Carrick, also a Crusader, recalled the beauty of the luminarias that were lined along the Relay track and also assembled in a display spelling “Hope.”

Leila Elliff, another Crusader, said she found most amazing “the fact that I actually did it,” after previously spending five years in a wheelchair. Jill Blankenshop of the Frontline Hotshots raved about the music and walking in the beautiful weather.

Dottie Cornelius of Island Girls 3-Day Susan G. Komen team, marveled at teammate Rita Bailey walking from midnight until 5 a.m., “so that I could get some sleep.”

Sue Lutz of the Rosario Dream Team said, “Leslie [Seaman] is my hero for setting up all the entertainment and music.”“

Bob Sheidler, a cancer survivor and another Rosario Dreamer, walked 100 laps, barefoot after he got blisters from his sneakers.

Joyce Nigretto walked her laps aided by a cane (she recently underwent hip replacement surgery).

As Stacy Lutz said, “There’s a lot of heroes here.”

Islanders Bank contributed banking services, and will continue to accept donations for the Orcas Island Relay for Life until Aug. 31.