Free Coupons In Each Section Total Value is Over
3,500
$
Check us out on Facebook
and at www.tidbitsofbaldwincounty.com
YO-YO FACTS
“Big Savings at the little red building!” Buy Here, Pay Here! As Low as $60 Per Week!
Rebuild Your Credit!
251-947-4444 ½ Mile North of HWY 90 23771 Hwy. 59 Robertsdale, AL w w w. c a r z o n c r e d i t . c o m
June 6 has been proclaimed Naitonal Yo-Yo-Day in commemoration of the birthday of yo-yo king Donald Duncan. Follow along and discover some facts you may not have known about this favorite toy. • The official description of a yo-yo is “an axle connected to two disks, with a length of twine looped around the axle.” The first historical evidence of a yo-yo was found in Greece from the year 500 B.C., a vase featuring a painting of a boy playing with the toy. A 1789 painting of France’s King Louis XVII, which hangs in the Louvre, shows the young monarch with a yo-yo as well. Two Ohio men received the first U.S. patent on the item in 1866. • In 1928, Pedro Flores launched the Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara, California. Within a year, he had opened two more factories, employing a total of 600 workers, and producing 300,000 yo-yo’s every day. By the end of another year, Donald Duncan had purchased all of Flores’ assets and had the name “yo-yo” registered as a trademark, meaning only he could use that name for the toy. • Duncan moved the entire operation to Luck, Wisconsin in 1946, and the community became known as the “Yo-Yo Capital of the World,” cranking out 3,600 yo-yo’s per hour. For 14 years, maple wooden yo-yo’s were manufactured, using 1,000,000 board feet every year. Plastic yo-yo’s came along in 1960. • Competitors of Duncan didn’t like that he had the exclusive rights to the word “yo-yo” and fought for the rights to use it. Unfortunately for the Duncan company, in 1965, after a long and expensive court battle, a Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the trademark for the word itself was not valid. Duncan lost its rights, and profits diminished to the point that the company had to declare bankruptcy three years later. They were bought out by Flambeau and surrendered the company and even the famous name of Duncan. • Well-known yo-yo tricks include “sleeping,” which keeps a yoyo spinning at the end of its uncoiled string. Looping keeps the body of the yo-yo in constant motion without sleeping, while “walking the dog” involves throwing a strong sleeper, then gently allowing the yo-yo to touch the floor, where it rolls forward like a dog on a leash. • Enthusiasts can see the world’s largest yo-yo at the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California. It measures 50 inches (127 cm) high and weighs 256 lbs. (116 kg.). The museum also houses yo-yo’s dating back to the 1920s. Chico is home to the National Yo-Yo Contest each October. • The yo-yo was first taken into space in April of 1985 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery when NASA introduced their Toys in Space project. • America’s National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998. Located in Rochester, New York, it pays tribute to those toys and games that have maintained their popularity over many years. In order to be considered for the honor, a toy must be “widely recognized, respected, and remembered,” foster learning and creativity, be more than a passing fad, as well as show innovation. The yo-yo was inducted into the Hall at its inception, along with the kite, rocking horse, jigsaw puzzle, Checkers, and doll houses, among many others.
Latest in Fashion Apparel • Fashion Shoes Fashion Jewelry • Tyler Candle • Corky's Elite Footwear Bauble Lulu • Miss Me Denim • Glory Haus • HOBO International And Much More! FOLLOW US
Hwy 59 • Gulf Shores • Original Oyster House Boardwalk • 251-948-5684
www.shopgeezlouise.com