Illuminating Experience Fireworks, Hundreds Of Thousands Of Holiday Lights Will Light Up Coeur D’Alene Tonight

Two of the biggest shows in the entertainment industry will collide downtown tonight to help ignite the Christmas season.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort and downtown merchants kick off the holidays with a parade, a lighting display and fireworks.

The lighting show, which features more than 150 display pieces - including a carousel and 40-foot, fire-breathing dragons - was designed by Glenn Meisch, the man who choreographs lighting displays for football’s Super Bowl.

The fireworks display, which will end with a 45-second finale that includes more shells than the body of the show, is modeled after a show at Disney World’s Epcot Center.

“It’ll be something like people around here have never seen before,” said Resort General Manager Bill Reagan.

Between 12,000 and 15,000 visitors are expected to gather in downtown Coeur d’Alene tonight for the Fantasy of Lights show, said Larry Holstein, resort assistant general manager.

“This year is bigger than we’ve ever been,” he said. “We’ve added a great number of pieces to what we originally had.”

The evening gets started with a parade, beginning at 5 p.m. at First Street and Lakeside Avenue.

The route will take participants east on Lakeside to Eighth Street and from there to Sherman Avenue. The parade will then march to Northwest Boulevard, ending in front of the resort. It’s expected to take about 45 minutes.

Then, from the roof the hotel, resort officials will kick off the fireworks and lighting festival. Workers will pass out candles and lead in the singing of “Silent Night.”

Some 1,500 people with pre-sold tickets will watch the show from boats on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Then the fireworks display will begin.

“We doubled our budget this year for fireworks,” Holstein said. “The theme of the finale is all white lights and suspended stars.”

A 10-second countdown will kick off the lighting of 200,000 lights on display pieces that stretch from the resort, across the boardwalk to the resort golf course.

“But that 200,000 is almost a misnomer because, with the reflection in the water, the appearance will be more like double that number,” Holstein said.

Tickets can still be obtained for boat cruises late into Friday night for $12 at the resort. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

Additional light-gazing cruises will run every night until Jan. 4 for $10. The resort already has sold tickets for more than 5,000 rides.

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