Today is national yoyo day. But, should it be?
Since 1990, we have celebrated yoyos on june 6th, but june 6th is also another special day. Today is d-day. The day that allied forces stormed the beach of Normandy France begining the final onslaught on Nazi Germany. Today is the day the spear pierced Europe to stop Hitler.
I have mixed feeling that we celebrate a toy on the same day.
Ps, Duncans birthday is the 8th. Seems like a much more fitting date.
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The date was chosen because it was mistakenly thought to be Duncan Sr.'s birthday; since that’s the reason the date was chosen, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be moved. It would help correct the record too, the misinfo is so widespread it was hard to find confirmation that June 8th is actually his birthday, but here’s two sources I found.
Entrepreneur Donald Franklin Duncan (June 8, 1893-May 15, 1971) was founder of the Duncan Yo-Yo Company and the Duncan Parking Meter Corporation.
https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1975
In order to pay tribute to his employer, Volk founded National Yo-yo Day on what he thought was Duncan’s birthday: June 6. As it turns out, Duncan’s birthday is actually June 8, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.
It’s a bit confusing though because the WV Encyclopedia sources says he was born in Rome, OH in 1893 while other sources (with the incorrect(?) birthday) say he was born in Kansas City, MO. The New York Times obituary for him unfortunately doesn’t mention his date of birth or place of birth.
Okay, this source says he was born in Rome, Ohio but his family lived in Huntington, WV (about ~1 hour away), but it has June 6th and the wrong year (1891 vs 1892 or 1893)
Here’s another source from West Virginia, it says June 8th, but also a different year (1893 vs 1892)
All the WV sources reference the WV Encyclopedia. At this point with conflicting sources, it might be best to get confirmation from someone within the Duncan family.
If June 8th turns out to be his birthday, I’m not sure what the process to change it would be. Would probably help if someone from Duncan pushed for it too.
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Don’t forget that June 6 is also…
- National Eyewear Day
- National Gardening Exercise Day
- National Drive-In Movie Day
- National Applesauce Cake Day
I’m personally a huge fan of that last one. Anyway, every day is stuffed with these National Whatever Days and there’s only 365 days in the year to fit them all in, so it’s bound to be a jumbled mess of marketing nonsense.
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Many dates throughout the year have multiple important events in history to recognize, remember, respect, appreciate, etc…
For example, June 5th is National Donut Day.
But few ever knew until now that June 5th also has a major significant event attached to it.
It was on June 5th, 1876 that an Alien Delta Force from a parallel Universe passed through a time warp continuum and successfully destroyed an entire Division of Space Cannibal Brain suckers that were on a mission to turn the planet Earth into a whole bunch of empty heads.
And I have no doubt that every single person eating donuts on June 5th had zero concerns about any other important events tied to that date(06/05…)
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It was also a bit awkward when National YoYo Day was 06/06/06.
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