VIDALIA, La. &045; Several thousand people are going to be mighty happy to see their beds come 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

But for tonight, sleep is a luxury no one will have time for. Around 5,000 people are expected to fill the Vidalia Riverfront area starting at 6 p.m. for the annual Relay for Life.

The Miss-Lou event, which grows in size and money each year, is a mini-Mardi Gras, Relay Chairman Ann Rodgers said, and there’s always something going on.

Survivor registration will start at 5:30 with the survivor reception at 6 p.m.

The event will kick off for everyone at 6:30 p.m. and laps around the track will be at 7 p.m.

The revised luminary service minus the name reading and with a silent lap will be at 9 p.m.

Entertainment for the night will include The Troy Williams Band, Open Eyes, Lee Staggs and Grady and Suzanne Hyde.

Team events will start at 12:30 a.m. including the &uot;Not Star&uot; Search, tie the team together, baby bottle contest, cheese ball toss and the wheel barrel race. Team awards will be distributed at 6 a.m. to close out the Relay.

Throughout the night the memorial wall be on display containing the names of loved ones honored with luminary bags.

The Miss-Lou Relay, which boasts the highest number of survivors in Mississippi and the second largest amount raised, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary tonight.

Fifty-one local teams have been holding fundraisers in the months leading up to the event to meet the $175,000 goal set for this year.

Tuesday night, teams turned in what they had so far at bank night. Fund raisers had gathered $138,000, up from $108,000 for bank night last year.

Charlene Rushing remembers when the event began 10 years ago. &uot;We were two people, and we did everything,&uot; she said, referring to her own participation and that of Julie Biglane, who was active in the American Cancer Society.

&uot;We started at the Natchez Mall and were there until 1999,&uot; Rushing said. &uot;We outgrew it.&uot;

The event seemed an overwhelming task at first, she said. &uot;But once you get your feet wet, you realize you can do it,&uot; she said.

As a cancer survivor, Rushing appreciates most the inclusion of survivors in the event. &uot;There have been survivors on walkers, in wheel chairs. They are going to make it around the track.&uot;

&uot;It’s a celebration of life,&uot; Rodgers said. &uot;And for the ones we’ve lost, it’s reverent. We know we are all there for the same purpose.&uot;