EVANSTON — Downtown Evanston was buzzing with activity on the evening of Friday, Aug. 21, as multiple two-person teams tackled challenges large and small hoping to emerge victorious in the annual Main Street Amazing Race. Many challenges took place outside this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the competition continued with 15 teams racing through town to complete the 15 challenges devised by local businesses.

The 2020 race included three different challenges that incorporated some form of cornhole and others that included drink pong, skee-ball and ping pong at Kate’s, For Pete’s Sake, NAPA, the Eagles and Timeless Beauty. At Edward Jones competitors were challenged to stack 50 pennies on top of one another, one at a time and using only one hand.

The Home Décor challenge required participants to gift wrap a package while wearing oven mitts and a Trona Valley Credit Union challenge asked players to identify the portraits on American currency. At Main Street Deli, competitors had to locate the different elements of a Lincoln Highway cheeseburger hidden throughout the restaurant and Heroes Realm challenged folks to scan walls of the business to find products.

Competitors also had to do yoga on the street thanks to Moonflower Yoga, solve a puzzle at iSolvU Escape Room and put a City of Evanston logo on a face mask at Varsity Ink. LR Communications’ challenge was to knock over water bottles with a softball inside the toe of a pair of pantyhose, but the pantyhose had to be worn on each competitor’s head. The Cazin’s challenge involved stacking large bolts one on top of another edgewise, using a length of all-thread.

Ultimately, the first-place finishers were the team of Eric and Chad Hughes, sponsored by iSolvU Escape Rooms. Two teams tied for second place, as cousins Kyan Lawlar and Taylor Petersen, along with their respective parents Tera Lawlar and Matt Petersen, completed the challenges and turned in their completed passports at the same time. The third-place team was husband-and-wife pair Josh and Lisa Cox.

Competitors were encouraged to dress in costume, with the Kate’s-sponsored team of Liz Thompson and Amie Dean earning one of two best costume prizes for their “COVID-19 Police” costumes. The other best costume prize of the evening went to mother-and-daughter team of Jacque and Kira Milam for their rocker-inspired garb.

Evanston Urban Renewal and Main Street Coordinator Jane Law said it was great to still be able to hold the Amazing Race, which serves a dual purpose of fun competition while also highlighting downtown businesses and the services and products available in Evanston, this year.