ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Hundreds of people came out Friday evening to rally around a cause and have a good time doing so.

The Orange Beach Sportsplex was the site of the annual Relay For Life of the Alabama Gulf Coast fundraiser, sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

This year’s theme was “Cancer is No Game” and teams chose different games as their campsite focus.

Although many Relay teams and volunteers came out early to get the Sportsplex field and the individual campsites set up, things officially got underway at 5:30 p.m. with the annual Survivor’s Reception for cancer survivors and their caregivers.

At 6 p.m. participants were welcomed to the event by event chairman Jeanne Fitzgibbons and touching speeches by Roger and Christy Whitehead, parents of 12-year-old leukemia survivor Logan Whitehead.

“Cancer really made us appreciate what we have as parents,” Christy Whitehead said, choking back tears. “A year ago we were still taking treatments at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham with an unknown future. Parents, never forget to tell your kids that you love them.”

After the welcome, the first lap of Relay was set to begin with the Survivor’s Lap, in which cancer survivors, dressed in Relay’s official color, purple, walk around the Relay track.

The survivors were led by Logan Whitehead, dressed in a purple boxing robe and boxing gloves, signifying one of the Relay creeds: “Fight Back.”

After the survivor’s lap, judges made their way around to each of the campsites for evaluation on their theme and their tailgating food fare.

Gulf Shores Elementary School was judged to have the best campsite with their Candyland theme, and the city of Orange Beach team was judged to have the best tailgate fare with smoked pork.

Once judging was out of the way, games chairman Jerry Connor kept the teams busy with an assortment of competitions and games that made the night go quickly for everyone.

Several teams had fundraisers going on throughout the evening to help raise more money for cancer research.

Although money is still coming in, Fitzgibbons said this year’s Relay raised more than $65,000 for the ACS.

“I am honored to be able to say we raised that much money,” she said. “In the current economy with many people losing their jobs, to raise this much money and have this kind of support in our community leaves me almost speechless.”

The highlight of the evening was the annual luminaria ceremony. Luminarias are bags with candles inside and names of cancer victims and survivors printed outside.

The bags were placed around the Relay track and the candles were lit as all lights in the park went dark.

Relay participants walked several laps to inspirational songs, sung by Gulf Shores United Methodist Church Minister of Music James Keith Posey, to remember loved ones affected by cancer.

Many gathered around individual luminarias with loved ones to remember those that did not survive the dreaded disease.

After the luminaria ceremony, awards were presented to several of the Relay teams.

Meyer Real Estate raised the most money for the third year in a row. Brett/Robinson raised the most money per team member. Orange Beach Elementary won the Community Leader Award with their recent support of the Locks of Love program in which the team donated hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The GSE team took home the coveted Spirit Award, which is voted on by other teams.

“There are so many people to thank for the success of this year’s event,” Fitzgibbons said.

Fitzgibbons thanked the event sponsors and the many volunteers for their hard work and donations along with members of the Relay Committee for their hard work organizing this year’s event.

“Without them, none of this would have been possible.”

Fitzgibbons said Logan Whitehead provided a tremendous inspiration to her during this year’s Relay.

“Last year Logan came to Relay when he was still undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. His head was still bald, and you could tell it took all the energy he had to come out for the event. This year he was like the Energizer Bunny. He had a full head of hair and looked healthy. He was running around the track at 2 a.m. with the Relay banner long after many of the teams had called it a night,” she said. “That is what I believe Relay is all about - overcoming the ravages and setbacks of the disease to continue living life at its fullest.”