Sports, both professional and amateur, have long been a component of St. Louis living. Along with its storied Cardinals baseball team and perennially playoff-bound Blues hockey team, the city recently welcomed a professional football team, the St. Louis Rams, and supports the Ambush soccer squad. Amateur sports include junior hockey, football, rugby, baseball, softball and soccer leagues, as well as tennis and golf. The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is considered among the five best in the country, and its home, Powell Hall, is both attractive and acoustically superior. The St. Louis Opera Company has a month-long late spring season recognized for quality and innovation.
Outdoor concerts occur throughout the late spring and summer.
Ragtime and jazz music have a long tradition in this city and remain attractions in many local bistros and cafes along the Riverfront. An outdoor venue, Riverport, brings in major popular musical events in the summer months, while such attractions are often presented at the historic Fox Theatre during winter months. An hour's drive to the south rise the Ozark Mountains, among the earth's oldest. One of the nation's last uncrowded outdoor jewels, the trails and backroads of the Ozarks can be explored in solitude. Road cyclists also enjoy the 200-mile Katy Trail, reclaimed from an unused railroad bed alongside the picturesque Missouri River.