Bring a team of friends and family to Chicago for the CHIditarod (Chicago Urban Shopping Cart Race) March 3, and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!
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 ® (no affiliation). Instead of sleds, racers use shopping carts. Instead of dogs, there are 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. The event draw 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.
The CHIditarod is fast, furious, cold, exciting, fun, and very creative. Teams come back year after year with new theme ideas, more elaborate carts, and a thirst to express their creativity while helping others through charity. Realize that there is no such thing as bad weather — just poor wardrobe choices. You may be asked sternly to get on the sidewalk. These things are okay — at the end of the day, CHIditarodders take care of each other, have a blast, and run roughshod over hunger.
The CHIditarod begins at the corner of Wolcott and Hubbard Streets in Chicago. To register for the CHIditarod, and to see times and rules, go online to http://www.chiditarod.org/register/ and follow the prompts.
The Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Chicago Urban Shopping Cart Race, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.