Tour de Lights 2025 Was Bigger & Brighter Than Ever

Now in its 19th inception, Tour de Lights is a downtown Knoxville holiday staple. This year’s edition, co-presented by Visit Knoxville and Bike Walk Knoxville, took place on Saturday with festivities throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

The centerpiece of Tour de Lights is, of course, the ride itself: a slow-rolling, luminous constellation of bicycles moving through the downtown and surrounding vicinities, flooding the streets with an unapologetic, it-just-keeps-coming deluge of holiday cheer.

The five-ish mile route starts and ends at Mary Costa Plaza, outside the Knoxville Auditorium & Coliseum, with connecting points between Parkridge and downtown. It’s a reminder of how fast, efficient and satisfying it is to get from point A to point B on a bike. The Parkridge section is a favorite, with lots of neighbors out on their porches shouting Merry Christmas or gathered together around fire pits in the front lawn. Shout-out to the little girl on Washington who was handing out s’mores! And of course it’s fun to roll down Gay Street, with all the festive lights and sidewalk cheers.

Last year, I did a deep dive into Tour de Lights’ small, scrappy origin story. It’s amazing how far the tradition has come.

This year’s ride, according to a Knoxville Fire Department social media post, had almost 3,000 participants. I filmed nearly eight minutes of the start, and there was a good two minutes of cyclists before and another two minutes after that I missed. So at least 10 minutes of condensed cyclists, which spreads out throughout the course of the ride.

 

Overheard at about six minutes into the video:

“Is it done yet?” – daughter

“Is what done yet? The bike ride?” – dad

The big hill up Howard Baker Jr. Avenue at the start seems cruel but is actually strategic, a kind of sorting hat that separates rider skill levels so that folks who are racing through criterium-style can distance themselves from the training-wheels set.

Returning for its third year, the Holiday Market featured local makers, food trucks, beer and an elaborate hot chocolate bar with all manner of toppings and an optional splash of Bailey’s or Peppermint Schnapps for the grown-ups. There was marshmallow roasting, live holiday music and a Peppermint Village with face painting, balloon creations by Twisted Whimsies, a coloring area and a mailbox for letters to Santa. So sweet, all around!

And the costumes! Oh, the costumes. There’s a costume contest, and I just want to go on the record saying that the Roma family (daughter EJ pictured below), who collectively dressed up as the Gay Street Bridge, got robbed in the Best Group category.

There were so many great group costumes …

… and onesies, pajamas and ugly Christmas sweaters.

This gal won Best Costume — kudos to her for biking five miles with this on her head:

Two Bikes, a downtown-based nonprofit working to create opportunity, sustainability and community through bicycles, generously donated a prize drawing for one year of free service up to $1,000. Co-founder and operations manager Matthew Zingg is shown below with the winner, along with Visit Knoxville president Kim Bumpas and Ashley Adams and Roger Todd, hosts of B97.5FM’s The B Morning Show.

I’m sure Tour de Lights is quite the inconvenience for those held up in traffic by the ride who didn’t get the memo, but also, hopefully, entertaining! Just put it in park, put on some tunes (note: B97.5 plays exclusively holiday music from mid-November through Christmas Day) and enjoy the moment.

I did the ride for the third year in a row with our kiddo, who is now six. The first year he was on his Big Wheels with a stuffy strapped to the back, and after a ceremonial start I teleported him to Gay Street and chased after him to the finish. The second year, now on a real bike, he peeled off halfway to his Aunt Trish’s house in Parkridge. This year, for the first time, he completed the whole thing!

And here he goes in 2025. Big boy!

Thank-you to everyone who played a role in make this year’s Tour de Lights so great. Happy holidays!