Booths were rocking; many came knocking
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 18, 2008 2:00 AM
Clowns, Mardi Gras partygoers, a gigantic chicken and even a cow walking upright on two feet greeted visitors at the 2008 Relay for Life Friday and Saturday at Wayne Community College.
As in past years, the teams tried to outdo one another.
Garris Chapel Church Holy Cows sported a "moo-ving out cancer" cow theme.
The tent top was black and white spotted -- just like a cow.
But finding that material wasn't easy, team member Lynn Crumpler said.
Trips to Wal-Marts from Goldsboro to Raleigh and Greenville finally netted enough cow material for just the right tent topper. It took Lynn's mother three nights to sew all the material together.
Out in front of the tent was a red barn complete with four black and white spotted cows grazing by it.
Inside selling homemade baked goods were church members -- wearing cow-themed aprons.
One of the team members even summoned up enough courage to put on a cow suit and to walk around the Relay Friday night.
Lynn said the church came up with the cow theme after having a fundraiser at Chick-fil-A. "Some of our church members wore the cow suit that night and had so much fun that they decided to do a cow theme for the campsite," she said.
It's not the first time that Garris Chapel has come up with a creative campsite theme. In past year, the team has used Gilligan's Island, the Wild West and a fishing village, to name a few.
"It's just a way to reach out to the community," Lynn said. "And we lost a member in our church this past year to cancer. Plus, we've had several members of our church diagnosed with cancer this year."
It was Christmas at the Daniels Memorial United Methodist Church campsite, a new team this year.
The theme was "Say Chill Out to Cancer," and the campsite featured two green Christmas trees decorated with beaded snowflakes. A snowman also stood guard outside the tent -- and doubled as a bean bag toss game.
It was a holiday of a different kind at the Pine Forest United Methodist Church campsite, where 69-year-old Jerry McGinnis was making homemade vanilla ice cream.
Using an ice cream machine he built seven years ago, McGinnis was dishing up five gallons of ice cream about every half hour.
The two-part contraption consisted of a 1.5-horsepower engine, a 1924 International model. At the other end was a five-gallon can sitting in a huge tub filled with ice and salt.
"The engine turns at 500 rpm, and the can turns at 75, so I used pulleys to reduce the speed," Jerry said.
He got the wheels, axles and a few other parts off an old golf cart.
At the Woods Chapel Free Will Baptist Church campsite, a dinner of pigs' feet was waiting for anyone brave enough to sit down.
Katie McKenzie did the cooking.
The 74-year-old's recipe for perfect pigs' feet includes a first and second boiling.
"Then I pour my special secret sauce over them," she said. "They're real good, and everybody loves them."
After a meal and dessert, there were plenty of booths with entertainment themes.
At the Zion Marchers campsite, clowns roamed around enticing visitors to play games and to get their pictures taken in a cutout of a strongman and a woman on a trapeze.
TA Loving even came up with a two-story campsite, with the names of team members adorning gold and white hard hats up the staircase.
In addition to the games, visitors could also ride a mechanical bull, dance or listen to music or even get a massage or a haircut -- all to benefit cancer research.