PINE BUSH – It has been wet this June, and though the skies were sunny at 3 p.m. on June 13 when the Pine Bush Relay for Life kicked off in Town of Crawford Park, the ground was squelching underfoot.

Taking note of that, Crawford Town Supervisor Charles Carnes had arranged for a load of hay to be delivered and laid over the worst spots.

The choir sang the Star Spangled Banner, the band played, and after some remarks by Dan Depew and Donna Henke, the Relay got underway with the customary Survivors' Lap.

For the rest of the afternoon and the early evening, the Relay was in full swing. The bands played, the teams marched, and over in the Cancer Prevention Study Tent some serious work was done. Pine Bush Relay registered 286 people for the third CPS, which is underway now across America. "If nothing else was achieved on the night, that was important," said Donna Henke. The American Cancer Society is hoping to enroll 500,000 people in this third great study, and to use the data they collect from it in the next great assault on the causes and treatment of cancer.

Meanwhile, the Relay teams were busy, and the track was full. Dan Depew and School Superintendant Phil Steinberg stopped by the Shawangunk Journal tent to say hello. This was Steinberg's first Relay in Pine Bush, and it's fair to say he was impressed by the event.

It soon became clear, however, that more straw was needed and more appeared, because the ground was saturated. Heavy traffic areas in and out of the Relay-site were already churned to mud. In a way, that was ominous foreshadowing of what was to come.

At around 7:30 p.m. the rains began with a downpour followed by drizzle. At 10:30 p.m. an even stronger band of rain swept in, and the whole track turned into a bog more suitable for amphibians than marchers. By then, spirits were dampened considerably, and the numbers of brave souls slogging through the mud had dwindled. The music continued to play and in many tents there was a defiant attitude: fires were lit, and food was prepared and consumed. Young people soaked to the skin, covered in mud, were out there dancing in the rain.

Donna Henke organized an effort to move the luminaries into tents, since it was clearly not going to be possible to light them outside. Pine Bush people don't give up so easily! But after midnight came another downpour, and then at 3 a.m. came the heaviest of the night, lasting half an hour and dumping the best part of an inch of rain on the already waterlogged site. Even getting to the parking lot meant sloshing through ankle deep puddles.

By that point, there were only a handful left trudging through the mud, although Cindy Madden, of Shamrocks and Shenanigans, showed up with her wellington boots and a big umbrella — the perfect attire for this year's Relay. She was plowing her way around the track through the final hours, when the mud was deep enough to suck a sneaker clean off the foot of the unwary.

Recognizing the grim state of the game, the organizers pulled the plug a little early. Donna Henke congratulated the brave few who were still active and promised that it would all happen again next year.

Discussing it afterwards, Henke said, "We've raised $165,000, but not all the money is in yet from all the teams, so that's not the final figure. Plus there will probably be online donations. You know, it's amazing, we may even beat last year's total."

In this economy, to raise that much from a single event in a small town like Pine Bush speaks volumes about the spirit of the place.

"Once again, our community here in Pine Bush came out for a great cause. The people were there, rain and mud notwithstanding, and they have raised so much money — well, it's amazing. Plus, they lined up for the cancer prevention study too. In fact we had to turn away more than a hundred people there."

So, get ready for next year? "Of course," said Henke. "We start planning right away. In fact I was just talking to Supervisor Carnes about contingency plans in case of rain."

COMMENTS about this article (1)