Cyclists cruise Gentry’s Main Street after dark

Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL
Emery Schortzmann, 6, arrived ready to decorate her bike with glow sticks and ride in Gentry's annual Glow Ride on Saturday.
Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL Emery Schortzmann, 6, arrived ready to decorate her bike with glow sticks and ride in Gentry's annual Glow Ride on Saturday.

GENTRY -- Children are usually cautioned against riding their bikes in the street -- especially after dark -- but on Saturday they were invited to do so on Gentry's Main Street, and the street was filled with bikers young and old.

Gentry's annual glow ride was held Saturday evening and cyclists came from Gentry and beyond to participate in the annual event which is sponsored by the Gentry Chamber of Commerce.

The cyclists arrived at the pavilion adjacent to Gentry's new splash pad and were provided with glow sticks and glow glasses to decorate their bicycles (and themselves) for the annual ride.

Then, once it was dark, Gentry police officers shut down Main Street to motor vehicle traffic and turned the street over to the cyclists to ride up and down Main Street on their bikes, trikes, scooters and more.

And Main Street was a busy place, a bicycle freeway of sorts, with multiple lanes of brightly-lighted bicycles streaming each way down the street.

There were a few collisions, something to be expected on a crowded highway, but no serious injuries were reported.

photo Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL Taylor Condon and son Lucas arrive ready to ride in the Gentry Glow Ride which began at dusk Saturday on Gentry's Main Street.
photo Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL Tommy Holland, 10, with Curious George as a passenger, is ready to ride in Gentry's Glow Ride which began at dusk Saturday on Gentry's Main Street.
photo Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL Ben Jones, owner of Dogwood Junction bike shop in Siloam Springs, with his wife Monica, rode a tandem bicycle in Gentry's Glow Ride on Saturday.
photo Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL With her bicycle decked out with glow sticks, Emma Young is ready for the Gentry Glow Ride which began at dusk Saturday on Gentry's Main Street.