For 26 years, crafty Riverwestians have spent their summers building hilarious, awesome and downright bizarre hand-propelled vehicles to race down Center Street.
The Art Cart Race started with the Riverwest Artwalk, but since 2003 it’s been a staple of Center Street Daze. Winning takes more than simply crossing the finish line – carts are judged on imagination, gumption and speed.
Last year’s speediest cart was a black husky (inspired by the neighborhood brewery) built by lovebirds Don Jones and Amy Ali. Their first date was working on the cart, when Jones asked Ali to draw the shape of the husky’s leg. “It was fun to bring our skill sets together in a creative way,” Ali says.
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Jones first participated in 2023 as a pusher for a neighbor’s cart. “It was a disaster,” he says. “We crashed and the cart fell apart. So, [my friend] Jeff and I were talking and decided that we could do things better.”
After some neighborhood brainstorming, Jones got started on the bones of the vehicle, using his engineering background to build a strong foundation before teaming up with Ali for the art.
With Don and Jeff pushing and Jeff’s daughter Hal steering, the husky “took home the gold” for speed, getting a bit beat up in the process.
This year, the couple is gunning for imagination, planning to focus more on creativity and aesthetics over the function of the cart. “We have ideas, but nothing firm,” Jones says. “We’re just gonna start tearing into it and see what all comes out.”
“I love [the race] – you’ve got all these different crazy designs, and it’s a day of fun,” says former race judge and “mayor” of Riverwest Larry “Spike” Bandy.
Bandy’s favorite carts are the ones that let the kids steer, but what was most important to him when judging was attitude.
“If they’re just there to have a good time, that means a lot to me,” Bandy says. “Taking the time to make the cart and collaborate with others, it’s something great for the neighborhood. That’s the reason we have it anyway.”
Interested in building your own cart? Here are some tips from the pros: Use big wheels for side-maneuvering without collapsing, and test the cart on speed and sharp turns. Get creative and weird with it, but watch out – crashes do happen.
This year’s Center Street Daze is on Aug. 16.
