LAKEPORT, Calif. – Supporters of the annual Relay for Life fundraiser are known to be pretty creative, and persistent, when it comes to raising funds for the effort to fight cancer.

Plastic flamingos and purple saddles have been known to show up in local yards, requiring a donation to the relay in order to send them on to their next stop.

Car washes, breakfasts, raffles and bake sales, and donations from local businesses, organization and individuals have helped raise funds for the event, which has continued to grow in size as it heads into its 12th year.

This year’s relay will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, and continuing until the following day at the Don Owens Field at Clear Lake High School, 350 Lange St. in Lakeport.

Teams will walk the track for 24 hours, and cancer survivors will be honored, with a luminaria ceremony to honor those whose battles have ended.

In the final weeks before the relay, there have been a number of final fundraising events, including rummage sales, but a Clear Lake High School teacher is joining some students for a different approach.

John Moorhead, who teaches wood shop at the school, agreed to shave his head, beard and even his eyebrows if students raised $300.

At the start of the week, they were at the $200 mark, he said.

“A lot of kids at school are really getting behind it,” said Moorhead.

“Most of the students are very much in favor of me shaving my head, my beard and whatever else I want to throw in, just for the sheer joy of public humiliation,” he added.

Students Tyler Martin and Nate Powers also have agreed to shave their heads if they each raise $100, Moorhead said.

However, not everyone is behind Moorhead’s willingness to shave himself down to the point where, in his own estimation, he may look like a giant thumb.

In particular, his wife, Rose Davidson, has some reservations.

“She doesn’t want me to shave my beard off,” which Moorhead said he has had since 1988.

So in the Relay for Life spirit, Davidson is raising money to save the beard, said Moorhead, who conceded that since he hasn’t seen what’s under the beard in 25 years, it may be best to leave it.

While the beard may be spared, Moorhead, Martin and Powers are on track to shave their heads in the school’s quad on Wednesday.

Moorhead said he’s happy to do what he can to support Relay for Life.

“Everybody knows someone who has been affected by cancer,” he said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.