The plan was for the 2015 Chilton County Relay For Life to move to a new location.

The annual event will be held at a new venue this year, but not the one organizers planned for.

Relay will be held Saturday at the Clanton Conference and Performing Arts Center because of the threat of rain. It was originally planned to be held at Goose Pond Park, which would have been a change from the previous location: Clanton City Park.

The change was announced Thursday at the annual Survivor’s and Caregiver’s Breakfast, which was held at Clanton First Baptist Church.

“It was a hard decision to make,” Chilton County Relay For Life Chairwoman Courtney Brock said. “We’re going to be inside, safe from the rain.”

Brock stressed that all the usual festivities would still be available for participants. Tents can be brought inside and set up along the walls of the convention hall, laps will be made around the inner part of the hall–and even those who planned to grill out will be able to set up just outside the building.

“Everything we were planning to do, we’ll still do.”

Clanton First Baptist Church Pastor Matt DeBord prayed over the food provided to cancer survivors and their caregivers at the breakfast.

Brock asked first-time attendees to raise their hands, and there were several present.

“I don’t like to see new faces, but I like to see new faces at the same time,” she said.

Brock introduced Relay volunteers in attendance and also the 2015 Miss Relay For Life Queens, each of whom told briefly why they Relay.

The guest speaker was Jeannie Smith of Maplesville, a cancer survivor who recently accepted a position with the American Cancer Society.

Smith detailed her struggle with the disease, losing several close relatives and friends to cancer, then dealing with overwhelming fear and anxiety before finally being diagnosed and fighting cancer herself.

“Helping others with cancer gave me a safety net from my own fears of cancer,” Smith said about getting involved with Relay For Life. “I’m a walking testimony that the research the American Cancer Society is doing is saving lives.”

For more about Smith’s story, see Page 2B.

“She just sets me on fire to do what we all want to do, and that’s to fight cancer,” Brock said.

The event concluded with the queens passing out gifts to survivors in attendance, and door prizes donated by local businesses.

Also on Thursday was Bank Day, where Relay participants brought their donations to West End Baptist Church to be counted.

The total raised as of Thursday evening was $84,730.32.