LEWISTON — Fridays at lunchtime find Bert Gosselin, 46, staked out at the corner of Bates and Main streets in a bright yellow running shirt, bucket in hand.

His sign gently warns drivers “Dempsey Challenge toll booth ahead.” Most are friendly, many donate.

Gosselin has raised more than $3,000 and is the top individual fundraiser so far for this fall’s fifth annual Dempsey Challenge.

“We’re going to be the team to battle,” said Gosselin, team captain of Richard’s Army.

The Dempsey Challenge, planned for Oct. 12-13, had a kickoff event last week to get people moving and training. With the same number of early participants, fundraising is $15,000 ahead of this time last year, Event Manager Aimee Arsenault said.

In 2012, the challenge broke three records: the number of walkers, runners and cyclists (4,294); funds raised ($1.2 million); and the amount raised before the challenge weekend ($1 million).

“Hopefully that will happen again this year,” she said. “We’re on track in terms of fundraising to do that. We’d love to get to 5,000 participants — 5,000 for our fifth anniversary.”

The Dempsey Challenge is the primary fundraiser for The Patrick Dempsey Center of Cancer Hope & Healing, which offers free services, classes, counselors and support to cancer patients, their families and caregivers.

In 2012, 12,856 people visited or called the center, a 12 percent increase over 2011.

“We’ve just seen a really dramatic increase and that just demonstrates to us that the need is here and it’s still growing and there’s still a lot more work to be done,” Arsenault said.

There are a few changes on tap for the event this fall. Arsenault said the Festival in the Park, which runs that Saturday and Sunday in Simard-Payne Memorial Park, will feature more live acts. Already signed up to perform, donating their time: Amy Allen, a singer/songwriter from South Portland who appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” and North of Nashville, a country music act out of Portland.

“We’re looking to really increase the profile of our entertainment and make it more like a big, free music festival for folks,” Arsenault said.

On the Friday night before the event, organizers have renamed the community celebration “Courage Fest” and plan downtown activities on both sides of the river.

“We have all these folks coming from out of town, from 33 states and six counties,” Arsenault said. “We really want to have them patronize our local restaurants and local businesses and really have them create a positive economic impact.”

Also new: Doubling the number of cheer stations along the event route and the CBB Cup, a competition between Colby, Bates and Bowdoin to see which college can muster the most participants between students, faculty and alumni.

“This was sort of born out of Patrick (Dempsey) wearing a Bates skiing hat at last year’s challenge and getting photographed with it and the Bates kids just went crazy,” Arsenault said. “Bowdoin said, ‘Hey, what about us?'”

Dempsey will award the cup and wear the winning school’s logo.

Arsenault said Amgen and other sponsors and a portion of registration fees cover the cost of the event. All donations raised by participants help run the center.

Gosselin, from Lewiston, has taken part in the challenge the past four years. The first year, he wanted to get up off the couch. Then, it turned personal.

His brother-in-law, Richard Dulac, died in January from melanoma. Gosselin helped create Richard’s Army in his honor.

“My brother-in-law and sister-in-law both used the center to help them with their journey,” Gosselin said.

A flexible work schedule allows him to step out and pass his bucket on Fridays. His personal goal is raising $15,000.

“People are very, very generous,” he said. “They’re out there looking for me now. It’s like I’m the icon for that corner.”

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