Downtown Hinesville will be home to a pink invasion Thursday night when multiple community groups come together to raise awareness for breast cancer.

The Hinesville Downtown Farmers Market will host “Go Pink Night” in Bradwell Park with live music by Just Us and a visit from Carolyn the Pink Fire Truck, while down the street Poole’s Deli will open for a pink pancake supper and judging of the second annual Art Your Bra contest.

“So many people are touched by breast cancer that it’s important to honor the strength of those who’ve persevered, celebrate the advances of technology and remind people about detection and prevention,” Hinesville Downtown Development Authority programming assistant Katrina Sage said.

“This event is important because it brings awareness to downtown Hinesville, and it will also help create a sense of unity among our citizens and those who are survivors,” she added. The market runs from 4-8 p.m.

Sage said the partnership with the farmers market is fitting because its vendors sell produce and agricultural items that are essential to healthy diets, a necessary step in preventing all forms of cancer.

Vendors are getting involved, too, and will donate proceeds from select items to the local health department to fund mammograms for women without insurance, Sage said.

One vendor, Shane’s Rib Shack, will donate $1 for each dinner sold, according to general manager Shane Burke.

“It’s a great cause, and I think it’s an issue that everybody faces, and everybody needs to do their part just to help find a cure,” Burke said.

Liberty County Health Department Administrator and Suzie Q’s co-founder Deidre Howell said studies consistently show that one in eight women will be affected by breast cancer in their lifetime, but that it is difficult to quantify occurrences of cancer within an area because the data often is kept according to where patients are treated.

“We’re a little below the state rate, and we’re the lowest in our health district for deaths from breast cancer,” Howell said.

But the scientific data and statistics do not tell the full story when it comes to the effects of breast cancer, Howell added.

“Just in the three years since April of 2009 that I’ve been doing Suzie Q’s, I know six women who have been diagnosed within that time period, and that’s just me,” she said. “And of those, one died, and she was only 38.”

That’s what drives the Suzie Q’s to continue raising awareness and funds for the cause.

The 12 entries from this year’s Art Your Bra fundraiser will be on display during a $7 all-you-can-eat pink pancake supper at Poole’s Deli from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday. The meal includes pancakes, meats and a drink, and all proceeds will be donated to the cause.

Three contest judges, Chief Magistrate Melinda Anderson, Liberty Regional Medical Center surgeon Dr. Christina Berenguer and WTOC-TV reporter Brian Entin, will be on hand to determine category winners for the art contest.

The Suzie Q’s also will be stationed at the farmers market with their final “Books for Boobies” used-book sale, with $1 paperbacks and $2 hardbacks.

Proceeds from the Suzie Q’s events will benefit the Coastal Georgia Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Howell said. A portion of the funds will go to research, and a portion likely will come back to Liberty County in the form of grants for mammograms and diagnostics.