People gather outside the the Marietta Adventure Company Thursday as they prepare for the 25th annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

MARIETTA — For over 25 years, the Marietta Rowing and Cycling Club has been hosting the Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour, a festive community event that allows residents to experience the town’s holiday displays from the seat of their bikes.

The Marietta Adventure Company co-hosted this year’s event, which was held Thursday evening. The tour is always held on the night after Christmas.

“The holiday lights bicycle tour is a family-friendly bicycle group ride around Marietta showcasing Marietta’s festive lights,” shop mechanic Zack Dennis said.

He said the 6-mile casual route is designed to maximize the number of lights seen, taking riders up Butler Street to Fifth and Sixth streets before looping back.

Hallie Taylor, co-owner of Marietta Adventure Company, said that the route has been refined over the years.

Don Tanner, far left, and his group of cyclists prepare for the 25th annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour Thursday outside of the Marietta Adventure Company. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“We’ve just kind of revised the route a little bit, shortened it and we try to keep it in an area where it’s also easy for people to cut out early, to keep it family-friendly,” Taylor said. “It’s just a great way to get people outside on their bikes after kind of being home with family.”

The event, which is free and open to all ages, has been a long-standing tradition in Marietta with the Marietta Adventure Company becoming involved for the past two years, taking over the start and end point.

“So we’ve just kind of became more of like a ride, leader, helper,” Taylor said.

She said safety is a top priority for the event, with participants required to wear helmets and equip their bikes with headlights and taillights.

“Helmet headlights, tail lights are required,” Dennis said. “So we do try to keep it as it’s family friendly, but its safety is number one.”

More than 30 cyclist gathered at the Marietta Adventure Company Thursday for the 25th annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour. Along with lighted safety gear, cyclists also decorated their bikes in festive lights. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

He said the event maintains a festive atmosphere, with highlights including seeing decorated bikes and getting cheers from onlookers.

“I like to kind of get in front of the group and then just watch everyone coming, you know, like a big line of everybody lit up,” Dennis said.

Marietta resident Don Tanner said this was his first year taking the tour.

“A friend of mine has done it before,” Tanner said. “We were going to do with him last year, but the weather was so bad, we didn’t come out. And then this year, he called me, two days ago and asked if we wanted to do it.”

Tanner said he was taking the tour with his wife and a group of friends.

“She wants to look at the lights on the houses,” Tanner said about his wife.

Avid bike enthusiast Jim Bennett, from Mineral Wells, said this was his second year at the event and that he rides about 2,200 miles a year. He said he has rode on trails such as the Appalachian Trail and the Great Allegheny Passage but enjoys the trails in Marietta. He said he really enjoys this event.

“It’s just a really fun event,” Tanner said. “It’s the Christmas season, kids and families are out, it’s just an enjoyable event.”

After the tour, participants were invited to enjoy warm refreshments and cookies provided by the Marietta Rowing and Cycling Club and customers of the Marietta Adventure Company.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com