A player at a Bad Axe Throwing site in Toronto takes aim. The Canada-based company plans to open a location in Richmond in April. (Photo courtesy Bad Axe Throwing)
As I write, I’m listening to the finale of Gioachino Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” which you may know as the theme song from the Western television show “The Lone Ranger.” It’s appropriately dramatic for a moment in greater Richmond when ax-throwing has come to the fore.
No, you won’t catch me downing a pint of beer and throwing a knife or hatchet at an apple on a child’s head like Tell did, but the idea of flinging a 5-pound ax at a wooden target does sound strangely appealing these days. The owners of Goochland County’s Virginia Axe Co., which is set to open April 1, hope plenty of others feel this urge.
Dan Pegg, the chief instructional officer, is a world-ranked knife and tomahawk thrower. He’s a Virginia representative in the International Knife Throwers Hall of Fame association, and he throws knives in his Glen Allen backyard for at least an hour every night. It’s an “edgy” hobby, Pegg says, tongue-in-cheek.
“We love the competitive nature of it,” says his business partner, Greg Ullman, “but it’s not so strenuous.” The other two partners are their wives, Tamera Pegg and Kathy Ullman. Tamera Pegg says that ax-throwing is "a big stress releaser" for her husband, adding, “For women, it’s empowering.”
Unlike Bad Axe Throwing, the Canada-based chain scheduled to open in April on West Broad Street, Virginia Axe Co. won’t serve booze. “It definitely distracts from our original vision,” Dan Pegg says. The throwing alleys will be open for families and work groups, and anyone 12 and older can do it. Ullman’s 14-year-old daughter received a set of knives this Christmas, and members of the Society of Creative Anachronism have expressed interest. We don’t know if they’ll be in medieval costume.
Also joining the increasingly crowded ax-throwing field will be Kraken Axes, a Washington, D.C.-based company that plans to open a venue in Scott’s Addition later this spring with a full bar, ax and knife throwing and a “rage room.” G-Force Karts near Richmond International Raceway began offering ax-throwing last summer, and River City Sports & Social Club is planning its second ax-throwing season in late April or early May.
In a town enamored with burly beards, craft beer and flannel, what could be better? Just don’t get in the way of Babe the Blue Ox.