STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Ashley Clark regaled viewers with her Ring of Fire. And Natalia Zaitseva and Scott Irvine introduced their ice skating children as Sun Valley Resort presented its annual Christmas Eve Ice Show and Torchlight Parade Tuesday evening.

Hundreds of people, including a family from Denver that’s been spending their last 15 Christmases in Sun Valley, sipped free cocoa and cookies, then settled back for the show with temperatures warm enough that spectators could go gloveless.

Two young boys from the Sun Valley Figure Skating Club donned conductor’s outfits leading a train of skaters around the rink as a picture of a train representing Sun Valley’s Union Pacific roots roared into view on the screen in the middle of the rink.

The family act made a nice touch at the end.

And a polar bear took its turn, in place of the snowman who has been taking to the ice in recent years.

Then it was the Sun Valley Ski School’s turn. In what may have been the finest torchlight parade in the past 25 years, skiers timed their descent down Dollar Mountain to start just as the skater took their last turns. And there wasn’t a single break in the long line of red glowing torchlights.

The evening ended with fireworks done to songs like “Jingle Bells and God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman” in a march fashion that resembled a match between Christmas and Fourth of July.

There was some glamour…

…And there was a swinging good time in youngsters decked out in candy cane colors.

A screen in the middle of the ice rink set the backdrop for each number.