Chilton County Relay For Life 2016 dodged the rain and surpassed its fundraising goal.

Jeannie Smith, Relay For Life community manager, said the fundraising total reached $154,484, over the goal of $153,000.

“That is tremendous,” Smith said. “Everything all the way around has been remarkable.”

Relay was held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Clanton City Park.

Organizers considered moving the event inside, to Clanton Conference and Performing Arts Center, because of the threat of inclement weather. However, the decision was made to stick it out at the park, and the rain held off.

“We had a great event,” Smith said.

The top fundraising team was Pleasant Grove Baptist No. 1, which donated over $13,000; followed closely by Mineral Springs Baptist Church with $12,900 and West End Baptist Church with over $12,000.

The top school was Maplesville High School with over $8,500 in donations.

The top individual was Nancy Sewell with $6,550; followed closely by Debbie Vinzant with $6,350.

Johnson Controls returned as a significant source of donations this year, bringing in $7,926, including $3,842 by top fundraiser Davis Quintanilla.

A new highlight of the event this year was 14 girls donating their hair on stage (another donor could not attend the actual event) to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program, which is a partnership with the American Cancer Society to provide wigs to cancer patients.

Donating hair were Madi Littleton, Charlotte Jones, Donna Stevens, Jana Petty, Haylee Jones, Andi Zugg, Kimberly Moss, Amanda Hubbard, Catherine Blankenship, Sarah Leach, Emilee Smith, Hannah Hollis, Melisha Scott, Hannah Chambers and Mollie Kayte Smith.

Jeannie Smith said enough hair was donated to make two wigs for the ACS Wig Bank.