MO LOUIS

Radio DJ, 102.3 BXR, Disc Golf Enthusiast

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Mo Louis, DJ at 102.3 BXR and avid disc golf player, knows Columbia better than just about anyone — he’s called it home for nearly 30 years. When he's not spinning discs or slinging them, you'll catch Mo checking out the latest restaurants and Columbia classics or exploring its rich and diverse music scene at one of his favorite venues. But one place you’ll rarely find him? At home. “There’s always something happening in Columbia.”

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Mo playing Disc Golf

DISC JOCKEY TO DISC GOLF

One of the reasons I love Columbia is the Parks and Rec department. My fellow disc golfers and I went to the city and we were like, ‘We need a championship-style course. The courses that we have are great and they’re challenging, but the top pros are not challenged by them.’ And they went both feet all the way in and got John Houck, the best disc golf designer in the world.

Disc Golf Course Review magazine rates Harmony Bends as the number one course in America, which basically means in the world. It is gorgeous and a couple of the holes are just art. It’s got four par-five holes on it, which are just daunting to anybody that plays. It’s a three-hour round to play all the way through with a group, and it’s a hike. Real long, but beautiful.

MO THE MUSIC MAN

We love the live music scene downtown. I think maybe my favorite spot in all of Columbia would be out on the lawn at Rose Music Hall — on a spring evening, listening to some music outside and enjoying some of our good local brews. We also like The Blue Note and Cafe Berlin — of course all the Summerfest shows that happen. Another great up-and-coming venue is Cooper’s Landing. I love Cooper’s Landing. It’s been down on the Missouri River for as long as I can remember and is evolving into this great music venue, camping area and party site. There’s just a lot to do down there.

Mo at the station
the Burney Sisters on Stage

BEST IN NEW MUSIC

The Columbia music scene is getting stronger and stronger. It starts with the great venues and places to play, but we’ve got a lot of talented people in town that are doing a lot of fun, different things. The young music scene in Columbia, especially, is really, really strong — The Sweaters, The Burney Sisters, The Adaptation — they’re the future of our music scene.

Food at the Barred Owl Butcher & Table

BEST PLACE TO PULL UP A CHAIR

I love to cook, but I will say that my wife and I like to go out. And I’m the instigator. We like to go to the downtown restaurants and microbreweries and grab a bite to eat and something cold to drink.

But how can you talk about Columbia food without talking about Shakespeare’s or Booches? I love to go get a Booches burger from time to time. I also like The Quarry; that’s one of our favorite places and they’ve got this Cajun menu. There are a lot of really good restaurants in town.

The microbrew scene in Columbia is also really great. You’ve got Rock Bridge Brewing Company, Bur Oak, Broadway Brewery, Logboat, Flat Branch. All of the breweries have great tasting rooms and they each offer very unique flavors.

Trails in Columbia

(SECOND) BEST PLACE TO GET OUTDOORS

One of the things that I think a lot of people even in Columbia take advantage of are these trail systems that not every city has. I can go from my house, which is on the east end of town to Cosmo Park, which is on the west end of town, on a trail that doesn’t cross a street. How is that possible? It goes under bridges, they’ve got tunnels; it’s a great system. And then the MKT Trail here in Columbia joins up with the Katy Trail, which will take you to Kansas City or St. Louis and it’s amazing. The trail system here in Columbia is something that we’re all really proud of.

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE

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