It may be more than five months away – but the theme is already in place and teams are gearing up for the Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraising event, which will be hosted at Johansen High School in Modesto in mid-May, 2025.
“We do have a name change,” ACS Staff Partner TJ Johnson said. “We have moved from the Relay For Life of Greater Stanislaus County to Relay For Life of the Greater Central Valley.”
The decision to change the name, Johnson explained, was to more accurately define what communities are taking part, with teams coming from not only Stanislaus County but also San Joaquin. And in 2025, with several areas not planning in person events, Johnson said the local event may see even more from outside the local area.
“We want to pull (participants) from all those places that used to have Relays in San Joaquin and Merced counties,” said Johnson.
The top fundraising team from the 2024 Relay For Life of Greater Stanislaus County was, in fact, from Tracy in San Joaquin County. The MLB team used to participate in the Tracy event, which has now disbanded.
“Manteca used to have a Relay. Linden used to have a Relay; now they do a concert. Tracy had a Relay. Relay For Life of Elk Grove got combined with Sacramento. The events got smaller and smaller,” Johnson said, with some not coming back after a hiatus during COVID.
But the local event, which combined Relays from the Oakdale-Riverbank-Escalon area with those of Modesto and Turlock, has continued to thrive over the past few years. Originally put on at John Thurman Field in Modesto for the combined event, it was moved in 2024 to Johansen. It will return there for the 2025 Relay For Life, scheduled for Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. There will be an opening ceremony, the cancer survivors taking the first lap around the track, educational exhibits, a classic car show, musical groups performing on stage, and more.
“It is Relay in the truest sense,” Johnson said of the Greater Central Valley event, since it will run from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, a full 24 hours.
The goal of Relay For Life is to raise funds for research, patient services, advocacy and education, all in the fight against cancer. The 24-hour period is designed to indicate that “Cancer never sleeps” so those taking part in Relay are encouraged to stay active throughout the event, including having at least one team member on the track at all times.
“They’re getting to be few and far between,” Johnson admitted of the 24-hour events, but he said it is a source of pride for many of the local participants that they maintain that schedule.
The 2025 Relay For Life will have “Carnival For A Cure” as its theme and teams will be putting on carnival games, selling carnival food and there will also be a number of special activities and fun competitions for participants as well.
“We are hoping for 50 teams at the event itself,” Johnson said. “We also have set a goal to raise $175,000, which would be the most we have raised in a long time.”
Members of the ELT – the Event Leadership Team – have already had a handful of planning meetings as they prepare for the 2025 event. There was also a late fall kickoff for teams and team captains, with many of those involved in this past May’s 2024 event returning. Johnson said after the holidays, there will be a “January kickoff” and that’s when the fundraising and planning will begin in earnest.
That kickoff is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 23 at the Wellspring Anglican Church, 1548 Cummins Drive, Modesto at 6:30 p.m.
All interested in learning more about Relay For Life are encouraged to attend the January kickoff. And, Johnson said, even those that don’t commit to a team are invited to stop by the event itself and support the cause.
“We have activities going every hour, even things in the middle of the night,” Johnson said. “We have karaoke, a newspaper fashion show, theme laps … there’s always something to do.”
