Help Chicagotalks Crowdsource the “Open Streets” Event on Saturday

Thirty thousand people are expected to walk, bike, roll, dance and play along eight miles of Chicago streets this Saturday for Open Streets. The streets will be closed to car traffic between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Participants will be able to enjoy all kinds of activities along the way including yoga, basketball, dancing, workout classes, face-painting and much more! This is good news from neighborhoods, and we want YOU to help us cover this event.

Last year at Open Streets (Photo by Kate Tully)

We can’t cover eight miles alone, so help us “crowdsource” everything that is going on.

Have Fun and Be a Reporter for Chicagotalks on Saturday

There is no event registration, and participants can join the fun anywhere along the route.

If you take advantage of Open Streets, we’d like you to call in a story from your cellphone. Just dial 312 436-1820 and leave a voice mail update for us (example at the end of this post.)

You can also upload pictures and tell us where you are, what you are doing, who you see, etc. This is such a unique event and we’d like to show it from different points of view.

So, become a citizen journalist. Just register with our Web site, and put your photos, video or story on Chicagotalks.

Follow the boulevards from Logan Square to Little Village, passing through Humboldt Park, North Lawndale and Garfield Park along the way.

See www.openstreetschicago.org for a full map.

A special VIP event with local aldermen and Open Streets funders will take place at 9 a.m. at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Can you take some photos for us and tell us who’s in the photo. The mayor is a fan of bicycling. I wonder if he’ll be there with his bike?

Open Streets is brought to you by Active Transportation Alliance with major funding provided by the Chicago Community Trust. It’s also supported by Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit safe, convenient and fun. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

If you have questions about reporting for Chicagotalks.org, you can e-me, Barbara Iverson.

Hear a sample cellphone update.