In what looks to be a new tradition for Sunlight Mountain Resort’s Ski Spree festival, the city of Glenwood Springs will sponsor a fireworks display Saturday night as part of the annual mid-winter celebration.

Following several events at Sunlight Friday night and during the day on Saturday, the festivities move to downtown Glenwood that evening, including a Chili Cook-Off contest at the Hotel Colorado starting at 5 p.m. with music by the Missing Link Band from 5:30-8 p.m.

The fireworks display will begin at 8 p.m., and will be visible to the west of downtown from the hotel.

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According to Glenwood Springs Fire Chief Gary Tillotson, any location in town with a 300-foot vertical view of the sky above Two Rivers Park will be a good spot to watch the fireworks.

But the park itself and all trails leading into the park will be closed for safety reasons, as that will be the staging area, Tillotson said.

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This is the second straight year the city has sponsored fireworks as part of Ski Spree instead of the former tradition of having a Fourth of July fireworks display.

In 2013, after a two-year hiatus due to budget constraints, the city had a vendor lined up to put on the July Fourth display. But when the high fire danger that summer prompted the city to cancel the display, the vendor agreed to do the display at another time.

At the urging of city tourism officials, City Council chose the 2014 Ski Spree event over New Year’s Eve. That seems to have stuck.

“We encouraged Sunlight to bring some of their events downtown, and it’s worked out beautifully,” said Lisa Langer, vice president of tourism marketing for the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.

“It’s a great time of year to do the fireworks because you don’t have the high fire danger, and they can shoot them off from the park because there are not a lot of people packed in there,” Langer said.

“We had very good response last year, and it’s just a nice climax to the event,” she said.

For a full list of 2015 Ski Spree activities and contest entry details, visit http://www.sunlightmtn.com/upcoming-events, or http://bit.ly/1KKM0Bv