Arguably, the best part of signing up for a 5K, marathon or bike race is the swag bag; you get a free t-shirt, energy bars, a water bottle, and for the Dairyland Dare, collectable buttons.
Buttons designed by Ocupop
Inspired by the Wisconsin Film Festival buttons, race organizers Stewart Schilling and Michelle Godez-Schilling decided to incorporate buttons into this year's race. "We are annual attenders of the Wisconsin Film Festival and every year we look forward to collecting the festival buttons," Godez-Schilling said. "We thought we could bring the same fun idea to our event."
Dairyland Dare rider Kae T. completed the longest portion of the course and stopped at every rest stop to collect the entire set of buttons.
Dairyland Dare riders received one button at packet pick-up and another at the finish line. Unique buttons were also available at each of the eleven rest stops along the course; the more rest stops the riders visited, the bigger their button collection. That means riders would have to complete the longest portion of the course— the 300k (186 mile) route— in order to collect all of the buttons. Quite a challenge for a one day bike race!
But Dairyland Dare isn't just about bikes and buttons. The race has provided a fundraising opportunity for local community non-profits since 2006 and the race's associated charity, Wisconsin Bikes For Good, has raised more than $100,000 since it's inception in 2012. Collecting buttons while raising money— now that's a great idea!
