Blacklight Race, 2026

Nighttime view from my DJ station during the race, Budds Motocross Park, Mechanicsville, MD

The middle of July turned out to be a pretty busy weekend -- I did a back to back suite of events that Friday with a corporate grand opening in the morning followed by a successful wedding in Annapolis. Saturday though was something different as was booked to do my first ever "Blacklight Race." Think "Color Run" but at night with glow sticks, blacklights, 5k enthusiasts, and yours truly playing high-energy electronic music.

I was pretty excited for this one, because it was set to be a rave style event with a pre-party, mid-race uptempo background music, and then a high-energy late night after party. I was the featured DJ thanks to the cool folks at EventLab that booked me. The pace was set right from the start as 2,000 attendees were at Budds Motocross Park for the pre-party. People of all ages were enjoying my warmup set and the staff were tossing color powder bags and glow bracelets by the dozen. I was also able to work my emceeing skills to hype various waves of people up getting ready to run the 5k.

Pre-party DJ set at Blacklight Run 2026

All racers hit the course, but the after party wasn't meant to be unfortunately due to sudden but pretty severe rainstorms. That said, although I wasn't able to share my uptempo set, everyone there, myself included, had a great time, and I'd love to do it again. I think my experience DJing color runs at my kids' school was a help, and I also look to releasing a recording of the set I prepared for the after party which was a collection of some amazing uptempo hits from recent years.

A great experience all around.

Me at the Blacklight Run DJ booth just before the rains hit

#blacklight #colorrun #rave #djset #emcee #edm #5k