The only childhood memory I have of the yo-yo is that I couldn’t get it to work. So in frustration I tossed the stupid thing aside and went to read a book. For people born after 1990, there was actually a time when young people played with real things. Believe it or not, I grew up bowling at the now demolished Turner Bowl on Belmont here in Chicago and not playing the digital version on Nintendo Wii. And I earned a trophy that I could physically touch. I know, man…that’s some crazy stuff.
Well, the yo-yo is alive and well in Chico, California at the National Yo-Yo Museum. THANK GOD! This museum is cool because it’s FREE and it features the world’s largest wood yo-yo (256 lbs) and hosts the annual National Yo-Yo and SpinTop Contests as well as serves as the home of the National Yo-Yo League. You mean there’s enough people participating in regional yo-yo contests for a national league to exist? Wow! I need to give Generation Z more credit…you people constantly surprise me. And even more surprising is that there’s another Yo-Yo Museum in Wisconsin, home of the Annual Yo-Yo Convention.
