PINE BUSH – At 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, the Pine Bush Relay for Life was humming along as smoothly as any organizer could have wanted. The Survivors had done their lap, now they were clustered around their tent, a small herd of purple T-shirts. On the track, hundreds of people of all ages were walking, marching, shuffling, and even skipping along. Kids tossed a Frisbee in one corner, kicked a soccer ball around in another. The bounce house was going full blast, the face painters had a line twelve deep waiting for their services, Sno-cones were flying out the opening at the True Value team tent and Superintendent of Schools, Phil Steinberg, wearing one of those purple T-shirts, was saying, "This is a great occasion, a great day for a great community."

Farther around the track, Orange County Legislator, Dan Depew and Pine Bush High School Principal Aaron Hopmeyer exchanged a bear hug. Depew echoed Steinberg, and said, "It's so great to see this community come out like this. People are having a good time, and all for a really good cause."

On the south side of the track was the archway, constructed by Roberto Velez, who is Barbara Hentschel's son-in-law. With decorations and balloons, the archway gave the track a terrific starting point. Later, it lit up with purple lights, and has obviously become a fixture for Pine Bush Relay.

At that point the skies were grey, there had been some rain earlier and everyone was keeping their fingers crossed that there would not be a repeat of last year's Noachian deluges. Alas, just a few hours later, a full blown thunderstorm surged into the region, with lightning crackling, thunder booming, and a heavy downpour drenching everything.

"We heard there was a tornado warning coming from Wurtsboro," said Donna Henke, Pine Bush Relay's longtime coordinator. "The lightning started, too. The rain was coming down like crazy, and little kids were sliding in the mud. So, we talked with Charlie Carnes, because we didn't want to repeat last year, and damage the field."

The lightning kept coming, and the rain became a torrent.

"At that point, we felt that safety demanded that we pull the plug," said Henke. "We couldn't risk lightning hitting the field with people on it. I even had to go out and tell some kids to quit playing Frisbee out in the open."

And so the sixth edition of Pine Bush Relay for Life came to an untimely end, thwarted by the elements.

"I have to say," said Henke, "we evacuated everyone very well and got everyone home safely."

A couple of days later, Donna Henke struck some upbeat notes, along with some wistful ones.

"We had 42 teams this year, and 8 new ones. And at this point we have about $120,000, but the teams have yet to hand in all the money they've raised."

What Henke lamented the most was that the storm came before they were able to show the PowerPoint presentation. That is such a powerful, and emotional salute to those who have fallen to the scourge of cancer, that it has become a high point of each year's Relay at Pine Bush.

However, on Monday afternoon, Henke said, "We will be showing the 2010 PowerPoint presentation this Friday night under the large pavilion in the Town of Crawford Park. We will start showing it at 8:30 p.m. and run to 9:30 p.m., continuously. We will also have a flashlight ceremony when it's dark, so bring your flashlight."

There will be donuts and coffee, and copies of the presentation will be available for purchase; if interested contact Donna Henke at (845) 744-8017.