BRIGHT BEGINNING TO 2024

Quinn's Hot Springs Resort once again rang in the New Year at midnight Sunday with a brilliant show of light and color.

Rocketman Pyros of Spokane, Washington, fired off an estimated 1,300 rockets ranging from 100 feet high to around 400. For the last 22 years, the resort has put on a New Year's Eve party with drinks, special goodies, music and a fireworks display.

"It was awesome," said Diane Gilliland of Moiese. "It was fabulous. We've been to a lot of different fireworks and this was one of the best one," added Gilliland, whose husband, Mark, is a counselor at Dixon School. The couple has attended the Quinn's New Year's Eve party for the past four years and this year was accompanied by their daughter, Rachel, from Ninilchik, Alaska.

Steve Underwood of Rocketman Pyros set off his fireworks in quick succession, as he has done for several years at Quinn's at the New Year's show. The Quinn's guests stepped out of Paradise Hall event center and onto the deck minutes before midnight and started the countdown to signal Underwood to begin the show. The fireworks technician had an assortment of shells, like salutes and spinners, and he had a "golden willow" finale that looked like a blizzard.

Underwood and his assistant, Dylan Ray, started setting up the rockets alongside Paradise Hall on Sunday afternoon. It took them around four hours to get everything in place. Quinn's paid $2,000 for the fireworks. Underwood has put on a New Year's display for the past eight years, but it's not just the money for Underwood. He said he especially likes doing a fireworks display in Montana because of the appreciation he receives from the people at his shows.

Sylvia McSwain, the resort's event manager, said they had 171 guests at the event with about 90% from outside Sanders County. "It was a great party and one of the best fireworks shows I've seen," said McSwain. She and Marilyn Simcoe spent eight days decorating the hall for the party. McSwain also said that a lot of the guests that had attended the party before said they were "super excited" about the fireworks display. The majority of those in attendance were Quinn's lodgers. However, the fireworks show, which lasted only six minutes, was also viewed by passing motorists who stopped their vehicles along the highway during the show and other resort guests who stepped outside to see it.

The resort has held a New Year's party for more than 20 years, but didn't have the fireworks element until after Paradise Hall was built eight years ago. "It's a great way to ring in the new year and our guests love it," said Denise Moreth, the resort's general manager. She said that a lot of people come back year after year to participate in the New Year's festivities. She added that it's a popular event and that a lot of guests book the next year's fireworks show the day after this one. "Rocketman Pyros does an amazing job and the show seems to exceed last year's every time," she said.

The party started at 8:30 p.m. with appetizers, desserts and drinks, along with musical entertainment by the Northern Lights Band of Missoula. At the end of the light show, the band played "Auld Lang Syne," the traditional tune to say farewell to the old year at midnight, and guests made a toast to 2024 with a glass of champagne.

"The fireworks were truly amazing. They were right on top of us," said Tim Thorpe of Spokane. Thorpe took up seven cabins with over a dozen guests for the party. "I really liked the one that looked like a burst of white snow," said Diane Gilliland. "It was such a good show."