In 2024, Vespa Club of America added regional events, in addition to the national Amerivespa event. The first Midwest event was held in St. Louis last year (photo above). Slaughterhouse Chicago is excited to host this year’s VMD, and hope to see a lot of new faces from the Vespa Club community.

Yes! Vespa Club of Chicago has taken charge of Slaughterhouse, and we’re working with Vespa Club of America to host Vespa Midwest Days, and if you like what you see, we’d sure love to see you become a member and get involved in the worldwide Vespa Club scene, but neither a Vespa nor a membership in our club are required to register for Slaughterhouse or Midwest Vespa Days. All scooters and all scooterists are welcome, and you’ll see the usual variety (of scooters and people) at our event.

Yes! The Vespa Club of Chicago welcomes everyone! That said, we must impose limits to keep group rides safe for everyone:

All scooter makes and models and vintages are welcome, but all vehicles on our rides must be street legal, titled and plated, and capable of 45-ish mph. Make no mistake, we love you — and your vehicle, but if you need to run lights and ride in the bike lane to keep up with the group, you’re creating an unsafe situation and we’ll ask you to catch up with us later.

Motorcycles are welcome, but we ask you stay towards the back on the group rides to let the smaller bikes set the pace (or hop on the highway and meet us at the end of the ride)

People-wise, we welcome (and thankfully attract) all ages, genders races, colors, creeds, even (most) musical tastes. So long as you have an open mind and can respectfully co-exist with others, you will be welcome at our events.

We do insist that you have an L- or M-class license or at least a motorcycle learners permit before joining our rides. (Despite what your dealer told you, an L-class license is required for 50cc scooters over 2hp in Illinois). If you’ve never ridden with a group of scooterists before, we highly recommend coming to one of our warmup rides over the spring and summer. Watch the calendar and emails for more info.

We are not aware of any motorscooter rental companies in the Chicago area. You might check national bike-sharing/rental platforms like EagleRider or RidersShare. Or ask around on the WhatsApp group… some of us have more scooters than we know what to do with (and some of them even run).

If you’re not competing for that “farthest ridden” trophy, trailer it! Read Vespa Club of Chicago’s guide to transporting your scooter. Check out the lodging page for up-to-date trailer parking info.

For domestic ground transport, we highly recommend Denver James (facebook)(email). He’s a licensed, bonded scooter-transport expert and a big supporter and friend of the community.

If you’re shipping by air freight, O’Hare Airport is just minutes from the hotel, so pickup and drop off should be convenient.

If they’re participating in the rally, they should register, they’ll get the full experience: a goodie bag, a ticket to the banquet, admission to the concert, etc. If they want to come check out any public events, that’s totally fine, but non-registered guests may not actively participate, and the rally is not liable for their safety.

If the rally doesn’t sell out (350 registrants) ahead of time (it very likely will) we will offer onsite registration, but onsite registration will be the same price, and will NOT include admission to the concert or banquet, and may not include some other benefits, depending on availability.

Please do! Limited Individual tickets for the Friday night concert will be available in advance on the Martyr’s website. Watch our social media, we’ll announce when they go on sale. All proceeds will go to the rally, so we would love for you to tell your friends!

No. Only rally participants who registered in advance may come to the banquet. Onsite registration will not include permission to the banquet, and no guests are allowed. This will be strictly enforced.

Before the event, we’ll have a page showing the raffle items and more details about the rules.

For the general raffle, we’ll use the simpler-to-manage tickets that have become popular at recent rallies, and we’ll have all the items on display with boxes, so you can choose which of your tickets go to which items. 

The Bluesmobile raffle will feature different tickets and will be drawn last.

• Volunteer! (link to form when available),or just give us a hand when it looks like we need it!
• Register (now!)
• Stay at the host hotel!
  Book your room ASAP!
• Tell your friends and share our social media posts.
• Suggest (or approach) sponsors! That helps keep our costs down and/or gets you more for your rally dollar.
• Buy raffle tickets and rally swag.
• Set a good example by riding safely and legally.
• Pay attention to the briefings, and be gassed-up and geared-up on time.
• Bring the organizers snacks and drinks.
• Be patient and respectful with organizers, venues, neighbors, and citizens.
• Make a point of being kind and welcoming to everyone, especially new riders. Today’s new riders are tomorrow’s old friends.
• Go start your own rally!