About 300 people wearing purple T-shirts took a lap around a gravel track at the Jefferson City Fairgrounds.
With that first lap, the cancer survivors marked the beginning of Friday night's Relay For Life of Cole County.
"Walking this one lap is a big thing for the survivors," Ashley Hale, American Cancer Society community development coordinator, said. "So, they can make sure they can do it."
The walkers were to continue walking laps around the track until about 1:30 a.m. today.
Since 1995, there have been Relay For Life events regularly in Jefferson City.
The relay is the largest fundraiser aimed at ending cancer in the world. Events unite communities across the globe to celebrate people having battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and take action to finish the fight. By walking around a track, individuals and teams raise money and awareness to help save lives. Money raised supports cancer research, education and prevention efforts as well as free information and critical services for people with cancer.
Last year, the Cole County event alone raised $243,777; it has raised more than $5 million since 1995.
The event began around 6 p.m. Following the opening ceremony, survivors and caregivers - "the heart and soul of Relay for Life events" - walked along the circuit while supporters gathered to cheer them on.
Seventy teams participated this year, despite scorching heat that reached 95 degrees.
Among them was Team Weedy.
Winnie Coker, a member of Weedy and cancer survivor from Jefferson City who lost her husband to cancer, said she started participating in the event in 2015. Back then, she "tagged on" with a team from Jefferson City Medical Group.
"I had just finished my radiation," Coker said. "It was my first experience, and I was very emotional."
The fight against cancer can be emotional, according to Trinah Cooper, of Versailles, who is also a member of Team Weedy.
"I walk for my friend who lost her father," Cooper said as her eyes teared up. "And for my brother, who is a survivor. And for my grandmother."
She said the relay is an all-around good experience.
But, it's not a singular experience.
The event featured a luminaria ceremony beginning about dusk. During the ceremony, everyone attending who was touched by cancer receives a luminaria. The lights represent lives - those taken by cancer, those who survived or those who are still fighting cancer.
Each team has a camp. And all during the event, the teams sell food and drinks or offer activities to raise money for cancer research.
They sold hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue, kebabs, popcorn, cotton candy, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy, lemonade, water, soft drinks and a dozen other items.
Some had activities. Jefferson Bank was at its traditional spot in the shade of a massive oak tree. The bank was offering three minutes in a bounce house for $2 and chances to play "Plinko" for $1, Bonnie Heimericks said.
"Everyone wins a prize," she said as if she were a carnival barker. "Everyone's a winner in this event."
That was true. Prizes were available for "winners" to choose from after they dropped their chip on the plinko table.
There was an unusual team among the walkers. Jenn Harshfield, her 13-year-old daughter, Noelle, and their German shepherd/great Dane mix, Doofus, participated in the relay. The group is from Roy, Washington, and started walking across the country (from east to west, having left from Virginia Beach, Virginia, about three months ago).
"My mother-in-law would not be alive today if not for Relay For Life," Harshfield said. "She would not have had these six years if it weren't for the relay."
The trio hopes to reach its home by Labor Day, she said.
Noelle said she has an ulterior motive to participating. She's already thinking about going to college at Stanford - to study mathematics, she said.
Their progress can be followed on Facebook at WalkWithUs2018. They hope kindhearted followers will assist with places for them to stay and with meeting other needs as they traverse the second half of the country.
"We're always looking for places to stay or a yard to pitch our tent in," Harshfield said.
Marva Lister and her daughter, Sherry Lister, stood under the canopy for their team, 1 Team 4 Hope.
Their booth featured lemonade, massive chocolate-covered strawberries and a "Launch a Frog" game. In that game, contestants placed a toy stuffed frog on a mini teeter-totter and struck the other side with a rubber mallet to try to launch the frog onto a cloth lily pad.
Challenging. But, everybody's a winner, so even if you missed, you got a prize.
Sherry started the team after Marva survived breast cancer. That was 16 years ago.
Still, Marva said her annual check-ups make her a little anxious.