Starting the season with a bang

COEUR d’ALENE — The 2016 Christmas season in Coeur d'Alene started with a bang.

Not just one bang — it was a series of thunderous booms accompanied by music and glittering showers of red, green, gold, silver and purple that streaked and exploded over the lake, every once in a while creating giant hearts, stars or smiley faces in the sky.

"They were great! They were really good this year. I think this is probably one of the best years," Coeur d'Alene resident Jeanine Torneo said of the fireworks at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Holiday Light Show. "That was definitely different. The years before it wasn’t that big."

Hagadone Communications president and event emcee Brad Hagadone confirmed indeed, the Hagadone family had something special planned for the fireworks in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Coeur d'Alene Resort Holiday Light Show.

“We’ve got a great company synchronization by (Pyro Spectaculars by) Souza," Hagadone said as he addressed the crowd of about 30,000 on The Resort lawn Friday evening. "They are world-class fireworks providers, and they have engineered our largest show we've ever had tonight."

The all-around exciting pyrotechnic spectacular captivated the crowd, which sang a heartfelt rendition of "Silent Night" with lit candles in hand just moments before the lighting countdown.

"Just looking out and seeing the number of people here, it's just amazing that with the weather and everything else, this community just comes together and shows such an amazing amount of holiday spirit,” said Hagadone Corp. vice president and administrator Leslie Ward, who served as the guest of honor and led the countdown. "We’re just so lucky to be a part of this."

The 30th annual Resort Holiday Light Show festivities included caroling by the Coeur d'Alene Resort Carolers quartet and the illuminating of all the lights and displays in the downtown corridor as a commencement of the holiday season.

The celebration began with the Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association's 25th annual Lighting Ceremony Parade with the theme of "Sights and Sounds of the Holidays."

And the parade did not fail to live up to its theme.

"I love the music and the people," said Eva Knight, 15, who rode on the festive Shenanigan's Toy Emporium float. "It's my first parade and I love it."

The 35 parade entries included high school marching bands, local churches, a semi truck blinking blue and green to show off Seattle Seahawks pride, Snoopy and Woodstock, decked-out snowmobiles, Santa Claus in an old-school fire truck and much more.

North Idaho Young Marine Lance Cpl. Caitlyn Canfield, 13, marched with her unit behind the Pappy Boyington Marine Corps League Detachment 966, which led the parade down Sherman Avenue.

“It feels like an honor to be marching with the Marine Corps League,” she said. “It’s great because we don’t have to be marching here, we don’t have to be in the parade, but we get the honor to do that. It’s pretty nice."

The Vine Church was merry and bright during its first appearance in the holiday parade. Miriam Schultz and her husband, Kevin, wore cardboard boxes decorated like Christmas presents and happily danced and waved to the crowd.

“Our theme is ‘Jesus is the best gift of Christmas’ and we wanted to do it in a fun way,” Miriam said. “We’re just so excited to be a part of the parade. It's just very, very fun."

“We love the small-town feel, that’s really special to us,” Kevin added. “Just seeing how the community all gets together and shows their love for their community.”