PORTLAND – Stars on Ice wrapped up its 15th season Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center before a sell-out crowd. But the event itself, stellar as it was, ended up being secondary to the love-fest to its founder, Scott Hamilton, who was ending his touring career.

As designed by tour co-director Sandra Bezic and her talented group of choreographers, this year’s Stars program was a farewell to Hamilton, from his opening solo number to James Brown’s “I Feel Good” to his farewell number to an original arrangement of “My Way,” which was followed by a sustained, minutes-long standing ovation.

The show was one of the most sparkling in recent years, as if the skaters wanted to send Hamilton off on a high note. Highlights included Kurt Browning’s flamenco-style number to Hans Zimmer’s “Nyah” and Yuka Sato’s elegant performance to Dido’s “Take My Hand.”

Tops among the group numbers was “Chairmen,” as Renee Roca, Gorsha Sur, Ilia Kulik, Steven Cousins and Browning performed amazing feats while skating with chairs. An interesting pairs performance saw Denis Petrov, long partnered with the now-retired Elena Bechke, skating to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” in tandem with pairs skater Jenni Meno and Kristi Yamaguchi, herself a former U.S. pairs champ. The number showcased the versatility of the cast.

But the fact that the evening marked the end of an era hung over the proceedings. That was amplified at the end of the group number to Stevie Wonder’s “If It’s Magic,” when about two dozen former Stars on Ice cast members skated onto the ice from rinkside seats. Chief among them were Rosalynn Sumners, Paul Wylie, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Katarina Witt, who flew in from Berlin for the event.

Each of the current cast members, then many of the past members, said their thanks to Hamilton in an hour-long goodbye, including an epic poem by JoJo Starbuck.

Then a tearful Hamilton took the mike and tried to put his mixed emotions into words: “There are so many things in life that I’ve yet to experience, and I can’t do those and do this. … Every night, I’ve felt a lot of love and a lot of support for a decision that I had to make sometime. … I’ve been so blessed that I’ve been able to share the ice with the greatest skaters from so many generations. It’s a pure, blind, unadulterated love that I’m feeling right now. I’m so blessed.”

Then Hamilton, always the ringmaster, rounded up this year’s cast for their final bow. The diminutive ‘skate god for life” (as dubbed by Browning) may be departing, but his legacy will live on in Stars on Ice.