VIDALIA — When Miss-Lou residents head to the Vidalia Riverfront tonight, it won’t be for just another festival — it will be for a cause.

The 2008 Miss-Lou Relay for Life, an annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will be on the Vidalia Riverfront south of the bridge.

During the Relay, participants keep an all-night vigil by walking laps around a track. In the months leading up to the event, the different teams collect funds, which will be used for cancer research.

So far, the teams have raised approximately $179,000, Miss-Lou Relay for Life Chair Janis Holder said.

“Every year we say our goal is at least as much as we did last year if not more,” Holder said. “Last year we collected $275,000.”

Approximately 55 teams collected funds this year, and approximately 40 will set up booths to serve as their base and to continue to collect funds at the event, Holder said.

Some of the discrepancy between the total number of teams and the teams that will be present at the event can be attributed to the fact that the date of Relay had to be moved from early May because of the high water on the Mississippi River.

“Some of the teams just raise money and don’t have a tent site, and several of the teams were school teams, and since school is out they have a harder time getting their teams together,” Holder said.

Parking at the event will be different from years past because of an event at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center and because of construction on the riverfront, Roy Smith with the Relay said.

To get to the designated parking area, participants need to take Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, or Louisiana 131, and follow the signs to the large fields on the south side of town, Smith said.

Martin Luther King Jr. Drive is the first left for those coming from Natchez, and the last right for those leaving Vidalia eastbound.

Shuttles and golf carts will be available to take people to the Relay, Smith said.

Survivors will be allowed to park on the other side of the levee.

The event will kick off at 4:30 p.m. with a survivor’s reception and registration, and will get into full swing at 6:30 p.m. with the pledge of allegiance and opening prayer.

The survivor’s lap will be at 6:45 p.m., and the Relay talent show will be at 7:30 p.m.

The luminary service will be at 9 p.m., and the band In Red Letters will play from 10:30 p.m. until midnight.

The Relay will last all night and into Saturday morning.

“Just come prepared to have a great time,” Holder said.