YO! CHICO!

Walking The Dog

Young Cory here is a yo-yo master. Winner of a number of national competitions, he is also an employee at the National Yo-Yo Museum. 

Who knew this almost hidden delight existed in Chico, California, as part of a larger toy store.

Home to thousands of varieties of yo-yos including the worlds largest (and working) yo-yo, which weighs in at 265 lbs. 

Surrounding this monster are cabinets full of yo-yo's, some dating back to the first yo-yo made in the 1920s. 

In the 1950's the name found on most yo-yos was Duncan. Today, practitioners apparently go for the Kuhn brand. Colorfully named models now proliferate: No-Jive Rainbow, Tom Cat, Flying Camels, Quetzal Mandala and Sleep Machine. Some of them can be found on this clever takeoff on the traditional periodic table of elements. This would have been much easier to memorize in high school.

Backstopping some of the yo-yo trophies kept in this nationally recognized museum are some of the basic tricks that many of us learned (or tried to learn) as kids, including "Walking The Dog." I was pretty proficient in most of them (except "Around The World"- the yo-yo usually beaned me when I tried it) but the tricks that can be performed today are nothing short of amazing. 

Here Cory demonstrates a new type of yo-yo, the aptly named "Off String". This 7 second clip is the first video I've used in the blog and am not sure how well it will work. Please et me know.