Once a year, a stretch of the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail in Columbia turns into something you don’t expect from a bike trail after dark: a slow-moving river of glow sticks, blinking lights, and a few thousand people who decided the best way to spend a Saturday night in late August was pedaling four miles in the dark and calling it a party.
That’s Kaleidospoke, Columbia Parks and Recreation’s annual glow-themed night ride, which ran this year on Saturday, Aug. 22, from Flat Branch Park to the Twin Lakes Recreation Area and back — an eight-mile round trip along the MKT, the trail that connects into our own Katy Trail corridor, according to the City of Columbia. This year’s ride drew about 3,000 riders, per the Columbia Missourian.
Riders decked out their bikes with glow sticks and light-up gear before rolling out, and at the halfway point, Twin Lakes turned into a small festival — bonfires, s’mores, live music, a shaved-ice truck, and black-light face painting, the Missourian reported. Walt’s Bike Shop was on hand for on-trail maintenance, so a loose chain or a flat tire didn’t have to end anyone’s night.
What stuck with riders wasn’t really the mileage. One participant put it simply to the Missourian: “You’re not stuck looking at the TV or your phone, it’s just fun.” Seven-year-old Charlie Logan, riding for the first time, was mainly there to see how much he could make himself glow. Missy Jost was back for her fifth year running and told the paper it’s her favorite event in Columbia, full stop.
Volunteer coordinator Wayne Huckshold has helped keep the ride running as a Parks and Recreation event for years now — the kind of low-key, well-organized night where the whole appeal is that there’s nowhere you need to be and nothing you need to prove, just a trail lit up like nothing else in town.
If you missed it this year, the trail’s still there every other night of the year, minus the glow sticks and the shaved ice — but mark next August for the version with both. The city hasn’t posted a 2027 date yet, so keep an eye on Columbia Parks and Recreation’s Kaleidospoke page as next summer gets closer.
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