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The Clark County Relay for Life has been canceled due to the high number of COVID-19 cases in the area, but another event will take its place.

“The in-person relay has been canceled. However, we are going to do a drive-thru luminary ceremony on Oct. 9,” said Janet Wartman, a senior community development manager for The American Cancer Society.

Wartman said the luminary ceremony will take place at the Clark County Courthouse from 7 to 9 p.m.

The decision to cancel was left up to the local volunteers.

“My volunteers just did not feel comfortable all getting together with their COVID numbers being so high,” Wartman said.

One of the reasons the volunteers did not feel comfortable gathering was the number of cancer survivors that would be in attendance at the event.

“One thing that is very important to us, we work with a lot of survivors and their immune system is low to begin with,” Wartman said. “But we are a health organization, and to keep our survivors, our volunteers, and our community safe we just thought it was a good idea [to cancel].”

According to the American Cancer Society’s website, Relay for Life has been helping raise funds so that the organization can contribute to cancer research, provide patient guidance and ensure health equity.

So far the Clark County relay has raised over $22,000 in donations according to its online events page.