Cda Puts On Its Christmas Shine Throngs Watch Parade, Fireworks And Festival Of Lights

A crowd big enough to fill a couple of shopping malls descended on downtown Coeur d’Alene Friday evening to kick off the holiday season with a parade and fireworks.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort’s expanded Festival of Lights, mild weather, and a spirited parade drew people in traffic-clogging numbers that rivaled the city’s Fourth of July festivities.

The traffic was so heavy coming into Coeur d’Alene for the event that traffic was backed up on Interstate 90 to Post Falls, according to the Idaho State Police.

The flurry of holiday activity started early in the day.

Resort employees wearing flashing “Ask Me About Festival of Lights” buttons and matching uniforms catered to a steady stream of visitors buying tickets to the evening lake cruises.

By midafternoon, more than 6,000 boat reservations had been made, and nearly all the cruises were sold out for Friday evening.

As resort owner Duane Hagadone pointed out in his evening address from atop the Hagadone Hospitality headquarters, the only way to see the special light displays at the resort golf course was to take one of his cruise boats.

While the masses headed for the Thanksgiving sales Friday morning, 40 decorating crews descended on the conference center to trim trees. The trees will be sold and auctioned off today to raise money for the Kootenai Medical Center Foundation.

Outside, a crew from Entertainment Fireworks Inc. made last-minute inspections of the electric circuits on the fireworks barge at the Third Street dock.

By 3:30 p.m., the entries were already lining up for the parade. When the holiday parade started several years ago, no marching bands entered.

Jerry Jaeger, president of Hagadone Hospitality, turned to his high school alma mater in Ritzville, and asked band director Dennis Koch to help.

The Ritzville band has hosted the parade nearly every year since, Koch said.

“Now there’s more bands,” Koch said. “After we stirred the pot, people decided it wasn’t so bad to march in 10-degree weather.”

After the parade, the host band gets a free spaghetti dinner.

Lakeside and Sherman avenues were packed with parade-goers five to six people deep. Children sought out view spots - windowsills, tree branches and their parents’ shoulders.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Colin Wright manned the Toys for Tots barrel at the corner of Third Street and Sherman Avenue, but missed most of the parade.

“That’s about all I could see,” he said, pointing over dozens of heads to a passing touch of glitter that topped one of the floats.

His barrel stood empty, until a couple of revelers dropped their half-empty beer cans in it.

“That’s not a trash can, sir,” Wright gently informed the man. The embarrassed couple offered Wright money, but he declined.

The last unofficial entry in the parade was a mob of Bloomsday proportion that oozed down the middle of the street toward the resort, where the fireworks and lighting ceremony could be viewed.

A bottleneck formed on the corner of First and Sherman, which quickly revealed weak spots in the crowd’s holiday cheer.

While others grumbled, Valerie Cooper, a regular at the festival, had no trouble maintaining her Christmas spirit.

“There’s a real sense of community,” she said, as she squeezed her way down the street. “It really brings everybody together.”

Sure enough, the crowd sang “Silent Night” along with Hagadone’s small choir. And when he asked the “kids” to help with the fireworks countdown, the crowd dutifully shouted out the count.

The fireworks display started slow, then picked up with the synthesized Christmas carols broadcast across the plaza. Sarcastic expressions of awe gave way to genuine “oohs.”

After a cacophony of white bursts signaled the finale, the resort turned on its Christmas lights. The toy soldier saluted from the parking lot. The Santa Claus waved from the hotel. The dragon breathed fire on the boardwalk.

The mob broke up in every direction, and traffic slowed to a near standstill in and out of downtown.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FESTIVAL CONTINUES The Festival of Trees continues today and Sunday with these events at The Coeur d’Alene Resort: A Senior Social from 10 a.m. to noon today. Admission is $3. The Festival Gala beginning with a silent auction at 6 p.m. today. Tickets are $75 a person. Sunday is Family Day, when anyone can view the trees for a $1 admission. The Kootenai Medical Center Foundation is sponsoring the event.