Mark Consuelos, an actor and TV host, will participate in this month’s Dempsey Challenge on Sept. 21 and host the Champions for Hope dinner. Above, actor and challenge founder Patrick Dempsey, second from left, rides into Simard-Payne Memorial Park in Lewiston on Sept. 23, 2023, at the end of his 25-mile bike ride. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

LEWISTON — Patrick Dempsey will not be the only celebrity at this year’s Dempsey Challenge, which is to feature new bike route options for the Sept. 21 ride. Another anticipated highlight of the event will be The Festival in the Park this year, which will have an array of activities for challenge participants and spectators.

“I think our Festival in the Park is going to be the best it’s been since I’ve been a part of the Dempsey Center and this is my fourth Dempsey Challenge,” said Katelynn Davis, Dempsey Center director of marketing and communications.

Mark Consuelos, of talk show “LIVE with Kelly and Mark” and the show “Riverdale,” will host this year’s Champions for Hope dinner, she said.

Consuelos, who heard about the Dempsey Challenge through the publicity following Dempsey being named People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2023, reached out and wanted to be part of it, according to Davis. Consuelos will also participate in one of the challenge events Saturday.

Reality TV show “Survivor” competitor Ethan Zahn will host this year’s fundraising awards Saturday afternoon. Julia Gagnon, who finished among the top contestants on “American Idol” last season, will sing the national anthem and perform. Camp of Rock will also perform during the Sept. 21 event, among others, including local musician Toby McAllister.

As of Sept. 5, about 1,900 people have registered for the event, in-person and virtually, which is 150 more participants than that time last year, according to Davis. She expects there will be as many as 2,500 participants this year.

After the mass shooting in 2023, people reached out to the Dempsey Center wanting to come back to the event and show support for the community, she said.

“After the challenge last year and the tragedy that happened in Lewiston, we had a lot of folks reaching out to us to check in on us,” she said. “They come to Lewiston for Dempsey Challenge every September and I think folks are really looking forward to being back in the community to be here to support everyone who was impacted by what happened last October.”

More than $1 million of the challenge’s $2 million fundraising goal had been raised as of Monday, according to the Dempsey Center website. It is the challenge’s biggest goal yet, surpassing its $1.8 million goal last year, Davis said.

The need for Dempsey Center services is higher than ever, she said. The center has seen a massive influx of patients at both its Lewiston and South Portland locations. Though the center now serves people outside of Maine through virtual services, the majority of its patients live in Maine.

Services are offered to patients at no cost and the center has no plans to change that, she said. Those services include nutrition, movement and fitness classes, mental health counseling, support groups, body work therapy, and wigs and headwear, among other services. It also provides a place for people from outside southern Maine to stay at the Clayton House in Portland while they get treatments.

All funds raised at the event go to providing those free services, she said. The center’s corporate sponsors, foundations, grants and other donated funds are important in keeping services free.

“I think one of my favorite things about the challenge is just seeing that broad community of people who come … from all over the world because they want to support people who have been impacted by cancer right here in our community,” she said. “And I think that it’s a really beautiful thing to see.”

EVENTS THIS YEAR

There are new routes for participants to choose from this year, including new 15- and 35-mile cycling routes, according to Davis. The family ride this year was reduced to 5 1/2 miles. The 25-, 50- and 65-mile routes will also return this year.

Participants may take part in a 25-mile duathlon, which is a run and cycle challenge, she said. There will also be a 5K run or walk challenge.

Dempsey will participate in one of the cycle routes Saturday and then cheer people on from the start line, she said. He will also lead the Survivor Walk with his sister and mother Saturday afternoon.

The three-day event will kickoff Thursday, Sept. 19, in Simard-Payne Memorial Park with an open house at the Dempsey Center on 29 Lowell St. in Lewiston. There will be another open house Friday and then the Champions for Hope dinner that evening.

Saturday’s Festival in the Park will start at 8:30 a.m. and feature a Maine craft beer and wine garden, bloody Mary and mimosa bar, food truck court, live entertainment, along with a challenge merchandise and mission tent. There will be a kid zone with events and activities geared toward children.

For a full list of activities and schedule visit the Dempsey Center at support.dempseycenter.org.