Light up everybody

Let the season begin.

And there's no better place on Earth for that than the exact geographical center of the Christmas cosmos - The Coeur d'Alene Resort Holiday Light Show.

Leading off Friday evening's gala was the traditional parade down Sherman Avenue, where every square inch of sidewalk was lined several people deep. Small children with tall fathers were in hog heaven.

This year's theme was Visions of Sugar Plums.

The pre-parade tune-up for the Coeur d'Alene High School marching band involved an eclectic combination of several different Christmas carols all played at the same time. It turned out to be well worth the effort, since when the band took to the streets, its performance was seamless.

It was 6-year-old Donovan Peterson's first parade. He was accompanied by his mother, Deb, and his grandma, Leila, who had both been attending for many years.

"I like parades. I like them a lot," he said, before announcing that Santa's appearance was the best part of the show.

Teri Thomas had been coming to the event for 16 years. When her daughter - who is now a parent herself - was a cheerleader at Lake City High School, she was in the parade.

As the procession moved down Sherman, so did the crowds, who all were headed for the action at The Resort.

Welcoming them there were the a capella Resort Carolers, an elegantly attired quartet which looked as if it had stepped out of a 19th-century Dickens novel.

Jerry Jaeger, master of ceremonies for the night and president of Hagadone Hospitality greeted the thousands of people crowding onto The Resort grounds and lining the decks of the parking garage. When he introduced the guest of honor, Jason Jaeger, director of sales and marketing at The Resort, longtime holiday-show attendees began preparing for the group countdown to the fireworks, which are funded as a personal gift from the Hagadone family to the community.

And all at once there were starbursts, rain, rockets and visual surprises without names. From the barges and the marina, they lit up the November night.

Rich Vaughan, show designer for Entertainment Fireworks, called out numbers to his crew over his headset. Each number was followed by a new flash of visual excitement.

"That one wasn't too bad," he would say from time to time, obviously pleased with what he was seeing. "Pretty good," was another favorite.

At the end of nearly eight minutes of nonstop fireworks, it was time for the man at the heart of The Resort Holiday Light Show to do his own countdown to the moment when 1.5 million lights would come alive.

"This is not a one-man show," said John Eloe, director of facilities for The Resort. "It's totally a team effort and I've got the best team in the world here."

There is no one single button that turns on all the lights, he said. The success of turning on all million-and-a-half bulbs simultaneously is the result of cool coordination between 14 engineers located at the dozen stations around The Resort.

Eloe, who stands at the center of the bridge on the boardwalk - which coincidentally happens to have the absolute best view in town - maintained radio contact with his people throughout the fireworks display and started his countdown to showtime the moment the fireworks ended.

When he got past "one," the normally mild-mannered man could be heard screaming, "Go, go, go!" as lights upon lights upon lights appeared out of the dark.

The No. 1 new attraction: the fire-spitting dragon. A definite must-see on everyone's holiday list.

This year there was extra drama up on the boardwalk when Vaughan's nephew surprised his uncle by getting down on his knees in the middle of the action to propose to his sweetheart, who immediately began to cry, but only after managing an enthusiastic "yes."

"In my opinion, that was the best part of the show," Vaughan said.

Several thousand others in attendance - not related to the future bride and groom - might have disagreed.

"The lights were the best."

"Nope, it was the fireworks."

"Kind of a cool parade, don't you think?"

"It's all good."

Small town. Big entertainment. Biggest heart.