Quinn's lights up for 2025 with fireworks

Rocketman Pyros traveled almost 150 miles last week to send more than 1,000 shells into the darkness for the annual New Year’s nighttime extravaganza fireworks show at Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort.

As the 167 guests at the resort’s Paradise Hall sang “Auld Lang Syne” — the traditional song to say farewell to the old year at midnight — played by the Missoula band Northern Lights, the fireworks burst to cast a myriad of colors over the Clark Fork River. The show lasted only six minutes, but received a huge applause from those at the event center and other guests that gathered around the resort and along Highway 135.

The crowd at Paradise Hall counted down the last 10 seconds of 2024 before Steve Underwood, owner of Rocketman Pyros of Spokane, and his assistant, Dylan Ray, started the show. Underwood has been doing the Quinn’s show for about 15 years, but this time he decided to aim the rockets over the river. The shells and smaller cakes went from about 200 feet in the sky to some 400 feet, bursting every few seconds at a cost of $2,000 for the show.

“People said it was the best show ever,” said Silvia McSwain, the resort’s events coordinator, who has led the implementation of the event for the last eight years. She said the show lit up the mountainside across the river, adding that Underwood always does a great job. He also does the Quinn’s Independence Day fireworks display. “I think he did a phenomenal job,” said McSwain.

McSwain said the crowd included mostly people from Montana, including about two dozen from Sanders County, but also people from Idaho, Washington and one from Alaska. She said most of the guests booked the party a year out. The New Year’s Eve party included finger foods and drinks, and a champagne toast. The resort has held a New Year’s Eve celebration for over 20 years. “The New Year’s Eve lodging for that event is already sold out for next year,” said Denise Moreth, the resort’s general manager.