MAY
Last year about 40 people tried their hands at rowing, canoeing, and kayaking at the local edition of National Learn to Row Day. The free annual event is hosted by the Chicago River Rowing and Paddling Center, which is hidden away in the old coast guard boathouse at the mouth of the Chicago River, just south of Navy Pier. Because they share the space with the marine and conservation police, “we haven’t really been able to put a sign up,” explains CRRC president Susan Urbas; the group plans to move to a new, more visible boathouse at soon-to-be-developed DuSable Park. The 55-member group expects about 100 others for this year’s free celebration, which runs from 9 to 3 at the boathouse and along the river. For more information see www.chicagorowing.org.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Since April a loose-knit group of Chicagoans has been meeting on the first Sunday of the month in front of a local superstore to embark upon a “consumption awareness ritual” called Whirl-Mart, in which they get carts, go inside, and wheel them through the aisles for an hour, buying nothing. The experiment started on April 1, 2001, in Troy, New York, in response to a call by Adbusters magazine to engage in foolish agitprop, and it’s now staged worldwide. Today’s free happening is one of a dozen diverse activities sponsored by Lumpen Media Group to celebrate its 12th anniversary (for the full slate of events, including an arts-and-crafts evening at Quimby’s on May 31, see www.lumpen.com). Would-be whirlers should meet at 2 PM outside Target, 2656 N. Elston, Chicago. For more information call 773-342-7332 or go to www.breathingplanet.net/whirl/.
4 WEDNESDAY
