One sure sign of spring in Portland, ironically, takes place on the ice.

As always, Discover Stars on Ice closed out its season Sunday afternoon with the second of two near-capacity shows at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Despite a handful of end-of-tour bobbles, the cast of Olympic medalists and world champions gave the crowd of figure-skating enthusiasts what they came for — a chance to see them up close and personal.

The afternoon belonged to two of the skaters in particular: Scott Hamilton, Stars on Ice’s founder and ringmaster, and Paul Wylie, who was wrapping up his skating career Sunday.

Hamilton, who missed last year’s show while battling cancer, was welcomed back with a sustained standing ovation after his first solo number, “With One More Look at You.”

His second solo number, “The Show Must Go On,” was a show-stopper, as he played all the roles in “The Wizard of Oz” through the use of replaceable shirt fronts and other props. At the number’s finale, a huge witches’ hat descended upon him from the ceiling, and when it lifted, Hamilton had on ruby-red skates. At the end of the number, a group of people dressed as the “Wizard” cast emerged from the skaters’ entrance, shaking their fists at the scene-stealing Hamilton.

Wylie performed two of his patented minidramas to movie music, skating to the theme from “Sleepers,” and “Go the Distance” by Michael Bolton, from “Hercules.”

During the ringing ovation after the latter number, an emotional Wylie, who is headed to business school in the fall, skated to the rink’s edge, hugging his parents, girlfriend, coach and agent.

The afternoon’s group highlight was the number “Fun & Games,” about the development of a game of Olympic contenders. The script, penned by sportswriter E.M. Swift and narrated by Hamilton, was rife with inside jokes poking fun at overbearing skaters’ moms, catfights between female skaters, Tonya Harding, Philippe Candeloro, Wylie and even Hamilton himself.

The star of the piece was Kurt Browning as Cyril Lutz, whose warm-up jacket read “This Space for Rent.” Lutz took to the ice a nobody and came back a star, almost in spite of himself.

Another side-splitting routine within “Fun & Games” was Gorsha Sur & Renee Roca as the environmentally conscious pair Gorky and Park. After their tribute to the South American red ant was marked down by the judges, they skated back to their coach, Evian Merry (played by Wylie), and stripped down to skimpier costumes, with Roca putting on a blond wig. “It’s time for Plan B. Put on new costumes, and change your name to Pasha,” Hamilton intoned, a poke at self-made-over Russian pairs skater Pasha Gritschuk. “Remember, sex sells.” Their second program to a bossa-nova version of a spaghetti Western theme drew high marks from the judges.

Other large group numbers included the opening “Get the Led Out,” a tribute to Led Zeppelin, and “Fever,” a tribute to Elvis Presley.

Among the individual performances, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean stood out with their witty “Tango,” about two strangers who meet at a train station. Unfortunately, the dance pair’s second number was dropped, for unexplained reasons, one of the show’s few disappointments.

Another quibble is that the Stars on Ice show no longer has the freshness it once held. Because of the proliferation of skating programs on TV, including two featuring Stars on Ice tour stops, there are no surprises left. Many fans previously have seen these routines, which can’t help but water down the product.

But in the end, fans did enjoy the rare opportunity to see their skating favorites live, a lovely reason to while away a couple of hours during mud season.