SOUTH PORTLAND – The Cancer Community Center in South Portland is getting set for its biggest fundraiser of the year – the Fight Back Festival, which will take place at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester on Sept. 27.

The annual event is a way for cancer patients and their families and friends to get together and have fun while raising money for a good cause, according to Nancy Audet, communications director at the cancer center.

The Fight Back Festival is a test of physical endurance and a celebration of survivorship, as well as a way to honor those who have lost their battle with cancer, Audet added.

This is the eighth year of the event, although it’s only been in recent years that the Cancer Community Center has combined a 5K-trail run with bike rides of varying lengths to create the Fight Back Festival.

Other events during the festival include a 1-mile stroll, a kids fun run and a barbecue for participants. There will also be children’s activities like face painting, a bounce house and a climbing wall, prizes for the top fundraisers and a Tribute Wall, where people can leave messages in honor of loved ones.

The 2103 festival raised $90,000 for the cancer center and this year’s goal is to raise $110,000. Audet said the fundraiser is important because the Cancer Community Center is a nonprofit that offers all of its programming for free.

“We don’t have any government funding,” she said, “so we rely on the generosity of individual donors, foundation grants and fundraising events like the Fight Back Festival.”

In addition to raising money for the cancer center, the other goal of the Fight Back Festival is to raise the profile of the center and the programs and services it provides, not just to cancer patients, but to their families, friends and caregivers, as well.

Programs offered at the cancer center include networking and support groups, wellness classes, creative expression workshops, social activities, a resource library and more.

Teams and individuals are encouraged to sign up for the Fight Back Festival at www.fightbackfestival.org. Audet also said that volunteers are needed to help out at the event. Those willing to volunteer can sign up in advance or show up the day of the festival, she said.

Hardy riders set off on a 60-mile bike ride during the Cancer Community Center’s 2013 Fight Back Festival.