National Yo-yo Day

National Yo-yo Day is dedicated to everything related to yo-yos, and takes place on June 6th, because that is the birthday of Donald F. Duncan, Sr., an entrepreneur credited with bringing the Yo-yo to prominence. Variations of the yo-yo have been around since the time of Ancient Greece, where they were made out of wood, metal, and painted Terra Cotta. The word yo-yo appeared in a Filipino dictionary in the early 1860's, and they were introduced to the United States when Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant, started manufacturing them at the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California, in 1928. By 1929, Flores had opened other factories in California, and was making 300,000 Yo-yos daily. Shortly thereafter, Donald F. Duncan, Sr. bought out Flores and began manufacturing yo-yos. Duncan had exclusive rights to the name "Yo-yo" until 1965, when a federal court of appeals ruled that "the trademark had become part of common speech." Yo-yos are popular all over the world, and many countries hold yo-yo contests. The World Yo-Yo Contest is the foremost of these. A typical yo-yo contest consists of two parts, a compulsory part where certain tricks are necessary, and a freestyle part where a contestant can do a routine of their choice.

How to Observe National Yo-yo Day

The day should obviously be spent with your yo-yo. Maybe it's time to add some new tricks to your tired old yo-yoing routine. Some popular tricks you can try to teach yourself are The Sleeper, Walking the Dog, Around the World, Hop the Fence, and Shooting the Moon. The yo-yo was inducted into the the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999, so if you are close to Rochester, New York, you could visit the museum. Similarly, if you are close to Chico, California, you could visit the National Yo-Yo Museum. Finally, if you don't have a yo-yo, you could spend the day focusing on making your mind up about decisions you must face, and not yo-yo between two options. First and foremost, you should stop yo-yoing about buying a yo-yo, and go out and buy one.

Exclusive Content

Enjoying Checkiday? It takes a lot of support from fans like you to run a free website. For exclusive content and other perks, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Thank you!

Sponsor

This event does not currently have a sponsor. If you'd like to increase visibility for this event while gaining exposure for yourself or your brand, you can learn more here!

Something Wrong or Missing?

We would love to hear from you! Please contact us using this form.

Observation Notifications

Would you like to be notified before the next observation? Add this event directly to your calendar with this link. You may also sign up here to be told when other notifications are available!