FORT KENT – Boy, was that a parade.

For 75 minutes Friday night, more than 70 units and some 1,500 participants filed by some 10,000 spectators.

It was undoubtedly the largest crowd ever gathered in this northern Maine community.

Despite a storm that dumped 6 inches of snow, cars lined Main Street two hours before the show was scheduled to start. It was all to celebrate the Biathlon World Cup competition, which wound up Saturday and drew media attention from around the world.

Some folks parked their vehicles and walked more than half a mile to where the parade ended at the St. Louis Catholic Church.

Fort Kent’s police chief estimated that “at least 10,000 people” viewed the parade, more than double the town’s population.

Most of the floats in the Parade of Lights were covered with the tiny clear lights used to decorate homes at Christmas. Hundreds of thousands of the lights also lighted up the town this week.

After the parade, the town had its first fireworks show in the middle of a heavy winter storm.

Besides all the floats by local service agencies and many businesses, what astonished many is that the parade also had floats from Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, both 20 miles away, one from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, 65 miles away, and one from Houlton, 100 miles away.

“I’ve never seen that many people in town for anything, not even the centennial parade of 1969,” said Police Chief Doody Michaud, who has lived in Fort Kent all his nearly 60 years. Neighboring Clair, New Brunswick, had crowds lined up to watch the same parade.

Oohs and ahhs were heard all over, up and down the street. “Did you see that one?” people asked.

Several of the national biathlon teams participated, carrying the flags of their nations. The Germans seemed to have the largest delegation, walking the two-plus-mile parade route from the Catholic Church in Clair to the St. Louis church.

The national flags of all the teams competing in the Biathlon World Cup were part of the parade.

Myriam Bedard, a former Canadian biathlete, was the grand marshal. Bedard was the first North American biathlete ever to win a medal in biathlon. She won two gold medals at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994.

Once the parade ended, people wanted to stick around. The doors of a tent with food, beverages and a live band had to be closed because it was filled to capacity. A 50-foot-long waiting line quickly formed. As people left the tent, others were allowed in.

“I’ve never seen what I saw last night,” Michaud said. “And I will never see it again, I’m sure. I’ve also never seen a traffic jam like there was after the parade.”