Out Our Front Door Newsletter - February

Hanging at Matthiessen State Park on Waterways to the West

Welcome

Greetings y’all, 

Hope you are living well and are starting to see Spring on the horizon. We just wrapped up another month of winter planning at OOFD. The month of March is a pivot point for us as we start to really kick things into gear with the Month of March guide trainings, Hootenanny hype, and the first overnight of the year, the St. Paddy’s Day Parade and Overnight. 
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Read on to learn a bit about what we have coming up. Hootenanny tickets are live. The RSVP is open the biggest and best OOFD Volunteer Training to date.  Lots of other cool events right around the corner. And some gratitude for a beloved OOFD community member.

Hootenanny Tickets are Live

The time has come! Tickets are live for one of the most fun parties of the year. Come hang with some of the most welcoming and adventurous community of folks you can find. This year, we’ll be back at Midwest Coast Brewery in West Town. Thursday, April 17th from 630-930pm. We will be on the beautiful, new second floor space of the brewery which is bigger and ADA accessible. 
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Tickets include 2 beverages, food, and a raffle ticket. Live music and great company. Plenty more details to come. Get your tickets now so you don’t miss your chance to party down with OOFD.

Tickets Here

Upcoming Event

Monthly Hang at Eris Brewery and Cider House in Old Irving
Tuesday, March 4th from 730-10pm
Come out to this beautiful space and hang with your OOFD pals. Swing by to meet new cool bike adventure folks or see your OOFD pals or both. New folks very much welcome. More deets here. And check out the whole Monthly Hang Line-up for 2025 here. From South Chicago to Edgewater. McKinley Park to Irving Park. 

Frankfort Public Library's Earth Awareness Fair
Sunday, March 9 from 2-4pm
This fair brings together organizations and individuals to showcase and encourage Earth stewardship and community, as well as, to learn about life on our planet and how ecosystems function & thrive. OOFD will be tabling there along with an astonishing number of other awesome orgs. 

Shamrock Cycle - Parade March, Party, and Bike Campout
Sunday, March 16 - Monday, March 17
Back by popular demand, we will be marching down Western Avenue in the Southside Irish Parade, followed by a backyard party with beverages/food in Mt. Greenwood, and then the heartiest of the bunch will ride the remaining 12 miles out to Camp Sullivan for the first OOFD bike camping trip of the year! Check out more details on that ride here.
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We have 16 folks signed up to march in the parade (and only 2 so far planning to camp). The OOFD guides are: Max (lead), Allison, Javier, Glenn, and Breanna. We would like to get at least 30 folks marching so we have a solid group of bikes rolling down Western Ave with the OOFD banner! Please sign up for free to march with us. Free corn beef and beverages at a backyard party after the parade. 

Happy Hour with OOFD's Executive Director
Wednesday, March 19th from 430-630pm at Centennial Craft Beer & Eatery- 733 N La Salle Dr.
Once a quarter, OOFD’s Executive Director and Co-Founder, Glenn, will be at a good Chicago Happy Hour spot, and available to discuss any ideas or questions you have for OOFD and even get to work on them a bit together. This is open to anyone, OOFD volunteers and the broader community. If you are new and curious about OOFD or if you are an OG guide, everyone is welcome.

Feel free to come for the whole time or just pop in for thirty minutes. All of the chosen places have great beer and NA options as well as Happy Hour specials. There will be a chill bike ride afterwards starting at 6:30pm. Feel free to come just for that if you prefer. More details and free sign-up here. 

OOFD Volunteer Training (optional overnight)
Saturday, March 29 from 12-5pm at Big Marsh Park, Ford Calumet Environmental Center
Volunteer training for new and returning guides alike! Learn safe riding techniques, tips and tricks for ride planning, nuances of guiding family and adaptive rides, and much more. Attendees will also have the opportunity to take a spin on OOFD's fleet of adaptive bicycles. Lunch provided, coffee/tea and snacks. Camping option available - dinner provided for those camping overnight.

If you can't make this event but still want to volunteer with OOFD, not to worry. We will have a virtual make-up session later in April. But if you can, you definitely should come out to Big Marsh on March 29. 
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RSPV here

Monthly Hang at Humboldt Park Boat House
Tuesday, April 1 from 730-10pm
Join us for the first outdoor hang of the year. Backup location The Beetle if weather is wet. More deets here.


The Hootenanny Vol. 5 at Midwest Coast Brewery
Thursday, April 17 from 630-930pm
Come eat, drink, and be merry at one of the most fun fundraisers of the year. A party. Not. To. Be. Missed. Tickets available here. Early bird ends March 31. Get your tickets here.

Volunteer Gratitude - Anson Mora

Gonna keep the epic gratitude streak going. This month, we’re going to shout out a very beloved member of the OOFD community, Anson Moran. Anson has been a guide for OOFD for about five years. He has been a big part of the OOFD Board of Directors for nearly three years, currently serving as the Chair of the Strategy and Operations Committee. Many of y’all that have ridden with us know Anson. He’s a hard guy to forget because his kind, welcoming, and party spirit are infectious. He is always so genuinely excited to meet new folks on our rides, learn about their bike set ups, and generally get to know folks. He brings that same spirit to his work as a board member as well as the variety of projects he has been involved in. Anything from helping us track our program spending more efficiently to seeking out a beer sponsor. Goodness is OOFD and everyone that rides with us lucky to have Anson as part of the crew. 

​In his own words, “Adventure has always been in my blood. Before I moved to Chicago from Huntington Beach California, I grew up obsessively surfing and exploring the west coast searching for waves and wonderful marine creatures. More recently, I found freedom from the coast on a bicycle. During the Summer of 2020, I joined Out Our Front Door’s Waterways to the West event, and I was captivated by the potential for adventure by bicycle. Since that first experience I have served as a guide on many rides and recently joined the Board of Directors with the task to share adventure with as many folks as possible. I hope to see you on the trail!.”

Summertime Monthly Hangs at the Lakefront

February Recap

We had our second Monthly Hang of the year and had about 25 folks out to Monochrome Brewery in Pilsen. Lots of new faces and even a few doggies:) The Where the Wild Things Grow ride to LaBagh Woods happened even in the cold and snow. We tabled at a the Winter Bike Swap in St. Charles and at the Patagonia Mag MIle store. A handful of us attended the epic Wild Things Conference. 

Some families just out there being rad and bike camping around Chicagoland

Other Awesome Events Upcomin

Reuse-a-Palooza at The Plant
Sunday, March 16 from 11am-3pm
Join The Plant in The Back of the Yards neighborhood for this semiannual event that provides opportunities to repair clothing and household items, safely dispose of tricky-to-recycle materials, and donate bicycles, old sneakers, and more—all while bringing attention to strategies that redefine waste and improve environmental conditions!

Cook County Forest Preserves CLIC Training (Camping Leadership Immersion Course) 
March 22-23 and May 3-4
These trainings are overnight camping events that run from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning at Camp Sullivan in Oak Forest. Camping gear and food provided. They are great events with lots of good tips on how to best engage people that are new to camping while on a camping trip, especially young people.
These trainings are especially important because once you complete it, you then have access to the Camping Gear Library at Camp Sullivan. For more information about CLIC, please email [email protected] 

Illinois Bike and Walk Summit
May 7-8 in Springfield, IL
This is the state’s most important conference related to biking and walking. Professionals, advocates, and individuals from communities of all sizes are invited to attend the conference to learn, collaborate, and identify creative solutions related to biking and walking in their community. The theme this year isis Creating Connected, Livable, Thriving Communities. OOFD likely be sending some folks down (we'll be camping nearby), and we even will be presenting during one of the sessions!
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Calumet Water Reclamation Plant Open House and Tour 
Saturday, May 10. 
Don’t miss this super cool opportunity to see one of our huge water rec plants! Plant located at 400 E. 130th Street. ​

In case you missed it, be sure to give this beauty of annual report a look. 2024 was such a huge year for OOFD, and this report really tells that story in such a profound and fun way.

And now we are oh so close to bike camping 2025 style. Please consider joining us to march in the Southside St. Paddy’s Day Parade. Don’t snooze on those Hootenanny tickets. They sold out last year. And start getting all sorts of bike adventures on your calendar for 2025. 

Will close out with a delightful quote from a book that never leaves the top of my desk, Gavin Van Horn's The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds (previous OOFD book club book).
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 “I am quickly learning how prairie offers more subtle varieties of spectacular. No misty mountains or tree cathedrals - for prairie, a person must get closer to the ground. Hands and knees might be best. . . Prairie requires attention to love, but once one is familiar with the world it contains, it's hard to see a prairie savanna as anything less than precious.”

 So pumped to get out there and ride with y’all! 

 Glenn and the whole OOFD crew