The RFL Luskwood Bennefit Concert and RFL Cross-Country Race

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Clothing Fair was not the only event for Relay for Life on Saturday, March 20th. There were others, among them a concert and a race. That afternoon, there was a benefit concert in Luskwood, and there was a cross-sim snail race.

At 12 Noon SL time, Luskwood held a concert for charity, to take in donations for the Relay. The event was held at the stage near the Great Tree.

From noon to 2:00 PM, come join us to listen to the awesome musical stylings of Frogg Marlowe and Jaycatt Nico for an hour, followed by the excellent voice of Alessandra Eberlain and her wide variety of songs for another hour. And, of course, don't forget to donate!

For the first hour, Jaycatt and Frogg performed for the audience. Jaycatt played the piano, while Frogg sang and strummed his guitar. At 1 PM, Alessandra took to the stage, her voice filling the airwaves. Lomgren Smalls and Daaneth Kivioq, whom helped organize the event were there, as was one of the Luskwood founders, Michi Lumnin.

“Thank you Daaneth, Lomgren, for putting this all together. ... My Grandfather died of lung cancer.” “Lom did all the work.” “Please help us fight against Evil! Please donate to the Kiosk in front of the stage! CANCER CAN BE BEATEN!!!”

At 2 PM SL time was the start of the Relay for Life Giant Racing Snail Cross-Country Race. The giant snail races are held regularly in Second Life every week by RacerX Gullwing. Usually, the snails are decorated to whatever the rider wants, and are held on a course. This time, the shells had to have large RFL signs on the sides, and the race would be held though a long stretch of road on the mainland, through over forty sims.

Thirty-six racers took part in the race. It took only a few minutes for lag to break up the line of snails, and the track went through towns, forrest, went over bridges, looked at by more then a few curious onlookers, went by places such as the Berlin’s Museum of Art, and more. After about forty minutes, Tindallia Soothsayer was the first to reach the end of the course, “thanks to lag and the last turn.” She had somehow avoided a bout of lag that slowed everyone else, and beat the next snail by over a minute. Following the race, a replay was shown in another sim for the racers and others.

The next RFL snail race will take part through sixty sims.

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Walk: The Really Wild West Exhibit

By Bixyl Shuftan

With so many exhibits on the Relay for Life walk, there just isn’t the time and space to write in detail on each of them. But I did get a sneak peak at one, the “Really Wild West” by the Passionate Redheads.

The exhibit was set in the Old West themed area of the Relay for Life Walk in the southwest corner of the RFL Endure sim (the other west sim was RFL Courage just to the east), the road just on the edge of the RFL Advocacy sim to the south. The place looked like it was set in some mountainous desert, with Native American music in the background. Just behind and to the right of the sign over the entrance was the main building, a two-story adobe structure that served partially as a store, offering a number of items for sale for charity. But the place also had some messages of inspiration. Nearby next to the road were some whimsical “Armadillo Crossing” signs, with armadillo nearby.

Paths and bridges helped one up the mountains. One could walk around to the various sights, but there were also teleports to the more notable ones. There was a mine in which one could hop on a cart and ride down the tracks. There was a river rafting ride, in which one could make their way down the twisting mountain waters. There was an Indian Circle, in which one could sit on a blanket, get a drum and a stick, and beat in rhythm.

The completion of the exhibit was announced in a few group chats a couple nights before the Relay for Life Walk officially started. People headed over, gathering at the adobe building, and having a party around the hot tub. When this reporter checked a few days after the Linden lease ended on Tuesday, it was still up.

Most of the work on the exhibit was done by Lomgren Smalls. Of the theme of the exhibit, “We found out we were on the ‘western’ themed sim already,” he explained, “I thought blending in with what was already there was a good idea.” Others had told me Lomgren had spent so much time on the place, he got only a few nights sleep in the days just before it was finished, “If you count actual hours ... I put in around a day, to a day and a half of work. Others did more as well, with the river, the detailing, the plants, etc. If you count real-life time... it was done in... 4-5 days.” Of the various attractions, “We all contributed toward the ideas. Daaneth loved the mine idea. We were all just spouting out ideas quickly.” Lomgren had no idea how many stepped off the track to look around, but he had a good idea what they felt, “Everyone's loved it.” Although pleased to hear it was still up, he felt it wouldn’t me much longer before it would vanish into the blue, “Anything after (Tuesday) is a bonus.” Despite the temporary results, Lomgren was still happy to have built the place, “That Relay is awesome, and more people should try to get involved. And that building it was fun, if exhausting.”

For his work, the Passionate Readheads awarded him, along with Dusk Griswold, the first Annual Fimi Awards, named after the late Artistic Fimicloud.

On July 21, Daaneth Kivioq announced the Passionate Redheads had raised 2,425,968 L, or over $9,300.

Bixyl Shuftan

Addition: This would be the first Relay track camp of the Passionate Redheads team I would see. It was part of a great introduction for me to the Redheads. The team would do other exhibits in the future, but this was among the most detailed and interactive by it. Despite all of Lomgen's work, and that of those helping him such as Alleara Snoodle, he never did win an official Relay award for the build. Sadly, the team would fold in 2013, but many of the members would come together again under a new team: the Sunbeamers.