Volunteer for CHIditarod Chicago. This is an annual shopping cart race around Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village that collects food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the CHIditarod Foundation. Looking for something free to do? Volunteer.
When: Saturday, March 7, 2020, Starting horn 12:00PM, race begins 12:30PM
Where: Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village, Start and finish line Wolcott and Hubbard (map).
What is the CHIditarod?
The Chicago Urban Shopping Cart Race, known as the CHIditarod, is an annual race through the Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village Chicago neighborhoods. The date of the event coincides with the kickoff of the Alaskan Iditarod ® (whom CHIditarod is not affiliated with in any way).
Instead of sleds, CHIditarod is run with shopping carts. Instead of dogs, they use teams of five humans: four pullers and one musher, all in costumes they have designed for themselves and their cart. Each team is required to start with their cart full of food for donation. It’s a food drive, a race for charity, a beauty pageant, a bar crawl, spontaneous street theater, and not for the faint of heart.
CHIditarod Volunteer Signup: No Checkpts
If you are coming back to volunteer in the same role you have in years past. WOOHOO thanks for coming back. Search the list for the area you want to rock out, click and sign up. Registration here. Volunteer registration closes February 28.
NEWBIES & I’M LOST: If you are unsure where to volunteer or this is your first time volunteering with CHIditarod, please click on the GENERAL volunteer link and sign up there. We will place you where we will need you.
If you have volunteered working on Frankie’s team in the past doing Registration Stuff: bibs, food, vogue photobooth, vip potty, cart shots, greeters, wristbands: Please click on the REGISTRATION GANG group.
If you have been on Devin’s yard dawg team or what to help out with set up, tear down, lnt and general gear stuff, please click on YARD DAWGs.
Route
The race will begin at the corner of Wollcot and Hubbard (map) at 12:30 pm. The website doesn’t have the 2018 checkpoints up yet.
Spectator Guidelines
- Respect the neighborhoods CHIditarod visits – take your trash home with you, don’t trample people’s flowerbeds, etc.
- Follow posted signs and all laws.
- Stay out of the streets.
- Feel free to pictures and videos and upload and link to Facebook, Flickr, etc. Tag “@chiditarod” and use #RodXIII on Instagram and Twitter.
- Fundraise for charity!
- You are not allowed to participate in sabotage.
Participate registration closes Feb 15.
Read the rules, and the FAQ, then read them again. Register your team. Figure out an awesome theme. Borrow a cart, then trick it out. Get acquainted with the sabotage rules & fundraising opportunities. On race day, bring at least 69 pounds of non-perishable food in your cart to the starting line. Space is limited, and we always fill up. Don’t delay. Mush.
Other info
The event draws together 1,100+ people, both participants and spectators, and has collected over 156,000 pounds of food and more than $190,000 in direct donations since its 2006 inception. CHIditarod is a one-of-a-kind event dedicated to self-expression — part charity food drive, part beauty pageant, part bar crawl, all costumed shopping cart race. An epic spectacle like no other.
