Relay for Life has been instrumental in fundraising for cancer research and equipment. One Bakersfield team has been raising funds in a series of events called Rock for a Cure.

Sunday, March 15, Rockwell’s Trout’s Blackboard Stages, 805 N. Chester Ave. in Bakersfield and team Too Inspired to be Tired hosted a Rock for a Cure event to raise money for Relay for Life.

Dolores Rouanzoin has been the team captain of Too Inspired to be Tired for four years now.

“I lost my grandma 8 years ago and music made me deal with it better,” said Rouanzoin.

This is the first year the team has done the Rock for a Cure and Sunday’s event was the third event, with a fourth being held again at Rockwell’s Trout’s Blackboard Stages on Sunday, Apr. 12 at 11 a.m. She is hoping for her team to raise $10,000.

Starting at noon, eighteen bands, including Blackwater Soul, The Aviators, Lions Named Leo, Mudfish, Western Medicine, Lyza Jane and Syster D took the stage in half-hour increments playing a variety of music such as Classic Rock, Country, R&B, Funk, Jazz, and Heavy Metal.

BC student Anthony Rodriguez, 26, a kinesiology major, played drums in the Stanley J. Tucker band. He spent all day at the event.

“I get in a different world when I am on the stage,” said Rodriguez.

When asked if he enjoyed himself, he said, “Of Course!”

“There is no reason to stand down when we have examples of this unity as that which makes us stronger as we stand together,” said Thomas Rockwell, owner of Trout’s.

Donations of $10 were taken at the door as a cover charge. There were also donation buckets on the stage. Some people were dropping $10 and $20 bills in for song requests. Each band donated their time onstage.

By 8 p.m. the audience had slimmed down, but according to Debbie Bohan, of B*Scene Event Photography, it was quite busy earlier in the day.

Relay for Life will be held May 2nd and 3rd at 9 a.m. at the Kern County Fairgrounds, 1142 South P Street in Bakersfield.