BIDDEFORD — Little kids, big kids and a few adventurous adults climbed on their snow sleds and barreled down the big snowy hill that began at the top of Adams Street Saturday and went all-l-l the way down.

Diane Verville was among the adults who did, sharing a bright blue plastic sled with her grandchild, Lexus, 4.

How was it?

“Totally awesome,” Lexus replied.

Verville estimated it had been 15 years since she’d been sledding. Biddeford’s first winter festival, La Fete d’Hiver, she said, was an “awesome idea.”

“It was fun,” she said.

Apparently, others thought so, too. While there were a number of activities, like a showing of photos of pre-1970s Biddeford, a Maine-Acadian concert, a movie Saturday afternoon and a crepe breakfast and free skating at West-Brook Skating Rink Sunday, much of the outdoor fun was centered on Adams Street.

The festival was the brainchild of Mayor Alan Casavant and sponsored by a number of local organizations.

There was snow volleyball, a place for the little ones to strap on their snowshoes and take a hike, free pony rides, festive music, children’s games and food, and the sledding hill on Saturday.

In the food tent, hosted by New Life Church, Jane LaPoint was melting butter, while Loren Babirak, Pris Verrier and Shirley Martel were making crepes ”“ fresh, fragrant ones, one by one, to be doused in melted butter and sprinkled with brown sugar the traditional way, said LaPoint, or with syrup. Some customers rolled their crepes around a hot dog or stuffed the hot, tasty crepe with chili, she said.

Whatever way festival-goers chose to consume the crepes, they were in much demand.

“People are coming back for more,” said Verrier as she expertly flipped a crepe in the pan.

Just after 1 p.m., about a dozen people, including Casavant, broke out into a flash mob, dancing for about five minutes on Adams Street while snow flurries ”“ the first in weeks it seemed ”“ drifted down to the ground. While there were several folks dancing, Casavant and a couple of others sported Hawaiian shirts (in his case, over a long-sleeved shirt) in the cold temperatures that hovered just around 32 degrees.

Even though there were flurries, no real snow fell Saturday and the snow hill had been “manufactured” on Friday. Local contractors gathered snow stockpiles from shopping centers and the airport and trucked it to city square and the surrounding area.

Over the music, the voices of young people winning or losing at volleyball or whooshing down the hill on a sled rose in excitement.

“It’s nice to see people come out,” said LaPoint.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.