Celebrating Yo-Yo Day

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By Diane Forrest

Have you ever rocked the baby, walked the dog and gone around the world in one afternoon?  You could have it know a little bit about a yo-yo.  These are a few of the many tricks you can do with a yo-yo.

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Did you know that the yo-yo is the world's second oldest toy?  Many believe the origins of the yo-yo were as early as 500 to 1000 B.C.  The picture above shows a young boy playing with one in 400 B.C.

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In 1923, Pedro Flores, a man of Filipino descent, began building yo-yos in America. He built the yo-yos by hand, and discovered that America's youth were fascinated with them. In 1928, Flores built the first yo-yo factory, mass producing the toys in California. He also began to hold yo-yo competitions to promote the toys, which started the first round of yo-yo mania in the United States.

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Donald F. Duncan Sr. first saw yo-yos in action around the time Flores began to hold competitions. He noticed how quickly the toys captured the interest of kids and decided to get into the business of making yo-yos. In 1930, Duncan bought out Flores, who was then hired to run Duncan's promotional campaigns.  For the next 25 years Duncan's yo-yo's were made of wood, then he partnered with another company in 1955 to make them from plastic.  Due to the popularity of this toy, this day, National Yo-Yo day is in honor of Donald Duncan who's birthday was today.

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To celebrate yo-yo day, why not find your old one and try to remember some of the tricks you learned as a kid.  I have to admit that I was all feet when it came to playing with this toy, but Im brave enough to give it another try.

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