The after-party is live! Watch:

It’s on. Seattle’s 11th Annual Cranksgiving community-supporting bike adventure is rolling all week.

Find your online scavenger hunt manifest here. You have until 3 p.m. Saturday to complete as many of the tasks as possible. You are then invited to an online after-party starting at 3.

As with every Seattle Cranksgiving since 2010, the event primarily supports the important community work at Rainier Valley Food Bank. But due to rising COVID-19 cases and recent state restrictions limiting grocery store capacity, we fully reimagined the event with help from the great folks at Rainier Valley Food Bank, Swift Industries and the Seattle Pedaling Relief Project. We will not be asking riders to buy groceries to donate this year because we don’t want to add more grocery store visits. Instead, we are asking that you take whatever you would have spent on groceries for the event and donate it directly to Rainier Valley Food Bank.

The first item on your manifest is to donate online. Be sure to enter “cranksgiving” in the “Special notes for your gift” line so we can count it toward our goal. The Ellis Foundation has generously offered to match Cranksgiving donations up to $3,000. This means that even though we are not buying groceries this year, your dollars invested in the event will go further than any year prior. And I don’t think we need to tell you that the need for Rainier Valley Food Bank’s community-supporting services are more needed now than ever.

Together we donated a metric tonne of food in 2019 worth a minimum of $3,712.41. That smashed the previous record, both in terms of food delivered and the number of riders. So let’s raise at least that much money this year.

OK, but what about the bike ride? Well, as sad as we are to lose the food-hauling element of the ride, cutting out the grocery stops does open up opportunities to focus energy elsewhere. This year has been so hard, and I really miss all of you. I miss gathering together and experiencing your creativity and supportive community energy. So this year’s manifest is designed to spread love for your community and to capture and share your creativity. And, of course, you gotta do it all by bike.

The rules are simple. You can ride solo or as a team. You know the COVID safety guidelines. Please limit your team to people already in your pod and be extra safe. Your task will be to complete as many of the items on the online manifest as you can to earn more points. Everyone will have a chance to win a prize, though the top point earners will compete for the grand prize: A Sonora Daypack from Swift Industries.

Photo challenges are back this year of course, but for the first time ever we have a set of very short video challenges. I am very excited to get together online Saturday to view these photos and videos together.

So please reach out to your fb friends or your usual team and challenge them to join Cranksgiving 2020. Happy Cranksgiving!