Free State event celebrates Douglas County trails with music, food, beer

Free State Brewing Company will turn its Eastside Brewery into a trailhead of sorts Thursday, pairing beer and live music with a push to make Douglas County’s trail network easier to use, better connected and better maintained.

Trails That Connect Us is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at 1927 Moodie Road, right along the Burroughs Creek Trail. The free event is open to all ages, dogs are welcome in outdoor areas if they are leashed, and Free State is encouraging people to arrive by foot or bicycle rather than by car.

The evening will bring together Free State Brewing Company, Kansas Trails Inc. and Friends of Lawrence Area Trails, two groups that see trails as more than recreation paths. Friends of Lawrence Area Trails describes itself as a nonprofit dedicated to developing, promoting and maintaining a robust and vibrant trail system in Douglas County and northeast Kansas. Kansas Trails Inc. says its mission is to connect and empower trail users, builders and communities with maps, resources and advocacy so Kansas trails remain accessible and sustainable.

That broader mission matters in Lawrence, where the trail system is both a quality-of-life amenity and a piece of public infrastructure still taking shape. The City of Lawrence says the Lawrence Loop will be a continuous urban greenway more than 22 miles long when completed. The Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park, meanwhile, is a 1.7-mile paved route that runs from 11th to 23rd streets along an abandoned rail corridor, showing how older land uses are being repurposed into active transportation corridors.

Thursday’s event is designed to make those connections visible. Kansas Trails Inc. says the gathering will include live music from The Lost Keys and No Bow Tie, along with free valet bike parking. Other event listings add food trucks, kid-friendly activities, a brewery tour and information about local trails and trail development. A raffle tied to the event could send a winner into one of the 50, 100 or 200-mile Unbound Gravel races in Emporia on May 30, with proceeds benefiting Kansas Trails Inc.

The timing also fits a larger local push for input. FLAT has been surveying residents this month about where trail improvements are needed, a sign that the conversation is not just about celebrating what exists but about deciding where maintenance, connectivity and future investment should go next.

If weather interrupts the gathering, organizers have listed Friday, April 24, as a rain date, with one related listing naming April 25 as a backup. However the schedule settles, the event points to a simple idea with civic weight: in Douglas County, a trail is not just a place to walk or ride. It is a shared public asset that only works when people keep building, funding and using it.