Rustin Coziahr planted his feet, gripped the axe with both hands, raised it above his head and flung it forward.
The axe spun through the air like a pinwheel before lodging into the target – a slab of tree with a red heart painted in the middle.
The crowd behind him cheered.
Coziahr, of Silver Spring, had clinched a victory in Battle Axes, an axe-throwing competition and a staple of the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
"It feels amazing," Coziahr said, laughing, after the contest. "It feels better than it should."
Coziahr was one of thousands of people who visited the Crownsville grounds on Sunday for the festival's final day of the season.
The festival had been open on the weekends since late August.
The crowded grounds buzzed on Sunday, sunny and warm for the end of October, as visitors soaked up their last chance to enjoy the festivities until next year.
Jeff Kaufmann, of Damascus, was enjoying the festival for the ninth time this season.
"It's sort of a bittersweet kind of thing," Kaufmann said. "It's a lot of fun being here."
The Renaissance Festival veteran was in costume for the last day of the season, wearing a Civil War sergeant's uniform.
It's an unofficial tradition on the season closer – known as Day of Wrong – to dress up in something other than Renaissance garb, Kaufmann said.
Stormtroopers from Star Wars could be spotted around the grounds Sunday.
"It's a day to wear a wacky costume or something weird or (something that) doesn't quite fit," Kaufmann said. "It's an excuse to go as nerdy or ridiculous as you like."
Jeremy Rogers, and his son, Eric, were dressed as squire and knight.
It was the Jessup pair's first time at the festival this season.
Jeremy Rogers has attended for the last 20 years, bringing his son, now a teenager, since he was young.
One of the great appeals of the Renaissance Festival is the people and how polite they are, Rogers said.
"It's one of the nicest places to go to not have to deal with all the stress of modern life where everybody's just, 'Rush rush, me me,'" Rogers said.
Sue Ann Colella, who has been a vendor at the festival with her husband for the past two years, also heaped praise on the festival attendees.
"The clientele has always been great," she said.
Colella and her husband sell turned wood products from their Laytonsville business Sleeping Beauties.
Their most popular product at festival?
Magic wands.
August to October is busy for the Colellas, who both balance the festival with other jobs during the week.
But said seeing the people – the regulars, the first-timers and the children enjoying themselves – is part of what makes it worth it, Colella said.
"We have a wand that lights up, so we say the little spell ... and it lights up and (the kids) get the biggest smile on their face," she said. "It makes it all worthwhile."
This story has been updated to correct the size of the crowd on the final day of the festival.
