FARMINGTON – Team Blue Heat is on a mission to raise as much as it can during the American Cancer Society’s June 5 Relay for Life at Mt. Blue High School.

Everyone in the Farmington Police Department, including previous employees, immediately signed up after the department decided to participate. This is the first year for Team Blue Heat, said Bonnie Pomeroy, department secretary.

“We had no idea of the response, but it’s been overwhelming,” she said.

The team will host a public barbecue Thursday, May 28, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the back parking lot of the municipal building. The menu includes a hot dog, hamburger, chips, soda and homemade dessert for $6. All will be served by the Farmington officers, and preorders of five or more can be delivered by calling 778-6311. Rain date is May 29.

The team recently tested the water and held a barbecue for town employees and public service personnel.

“We learned from that but still made $600,” Pomeroy said.

Now they’re ready to open this barbecue up to the public, with beverages and chips donated, so there’s not a big startup cost for the 125 meals they hope to sell.

In a joint team effort with Franklin Savings Bank, the department will also sponsor a pig roast at the relay event June 5, starting at 7 p.m., but since they’ve only purchased one pig to be roasted on site during the day, tickets must be purchased in advance, and there are only 125 available.

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased from the department or Franklin Savings Bank.

Different teams set a goal for what they want to try to do and earn it in a number of different ways, Pomeroy said.

“We had no idea what to expect, so we were fairly conservative and set a goal of $2,500. We’ve already raised $3,600,” she added. All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

To go along with the Hawaiian luau theme for this year’s relay, the Team Blue Heat has some other “fun things” planned during the relay, including a donut-eating contest at 8 p.m., raffle tickets, T-shirts, bracelets and more that she didn’t want to give away.

The team has enough members, so there should be two to three people on the track at all times even though only one member for every hour is requested, she said.

“Everyone hopped on board. It’s wonderful there’s no one today that can’t say their life hasn’t been touched by cancer,” she said of the department’s participation.

With plans to camp out overnight, she suspects there just might be something happening at the Team Blue Heat’s campsite most of the time. You never know, she said.