Folks attending L.L. Bean’s 10th annual Northern Lights Christmas Tree Lighting expecting one large tree got plenty more on Friday night.

In place of the traditional lighting, Discovery Forest — a sea of more than 700 fir trees grown on various Maine tree farms — was installed behind L.L. Bean’s flagship store in Freeport. The lights flickered on just after 7 p.m., to the delight of a crowd more than 5,000 people.

After the lighting ceremony, families lined up to walk through the forest, checked out a projection of the Aurora Borealis inside the Night Sky Dome, visited Santa and fed two reindeer. Hot chocolate was served to keep the crowd warm as they enjoyed the sights.

“The whole idea is L.L. Bean is all about getting people outdoors,” said Eric Smith of L.L. Bean public relations, who was on hand to coordinate the tree lighting. “Instead of just one thing, we wanted there to be all kinds of things that people could go around and do.”

Smith said that the Discovery Forest is the “largest collection of Christmas trees that you’ll see anywhere,” and that the Night Sky Dome is unique because “even in the middle of the day you can go inside and experience the night sky and the northern wilderness with the Aurora Borealis up above.”

The line to walk through the Discovery Forest and into the Night Sky Dome was long, but kids were having fun looking around at the light display.

Jason LePrelle, who was in line with his wife and two kids, said that he “didn’t expect this many people” to show up to the lighting ceremony.

“We’ve come here in years past and never seen it this crazy,” said LePrelle.

Another line led up to the Reindeer Barn, where Santa took requests from children, and two reindeer grazed behind a wooden fence. Kids were able to pet the deer and feed them hay. The post and beam structure was built by Freeport’s own John Libby.

“Eighteen days ago this was just a grassy field,” said Smith of the area where Discovery Forest was built. “Some people have seen it building the past few weeks, but a lot of people are in for a surprise. One of our favorite things about Christmas is the tradition, but it’s also all about surprises. We hope we’ve got more than a few surprises here tonight.”

Discovery Forest and Night Sky Dome are open daily until Christmas from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the Reindeer Barn is open Saturday and Sunday until Dec. 18 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.