National Yo-Yo Day

June 6 is National Yo-Yo Day, and the toy may be older than you think. An ancient Greek vase from 500 BC shows a boy playing with a yo-yo. Greek records describe them as being made of wood; metal; or terra cotta, a fired clay. European children have played with them for ages.

They also came to the American colonies. The Blount House in Knoxville, Tennessee, built in the late 1700's has them on display. However, the toy really became popular in the 1920's. In 1928, Pedro Flores, an immigrant from the Philippines, opened a yo-yo factory in Santa Barbara, California. Before 1929 ended, he had opened addition factories in Los Angles and Hollywood.

Not long afterwards, another entrepreneur, Donald F. Duncan, bought the yo-yo manufacturing business from Flores. In 1932, Harvey Lowe won the first world yo-yo championship in London. Other yo-yo makers came upon the scene, but the Duncan yo-yo would remain the best known. The 1960's saw another resurgence of the yo-yo, and this continued until the end of the 1980's. Although less popular, they're still available today.

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