Earlier this week Hank had to leave the tour for a little while. We are super sad to see him go but, we are super excited for him because he is on his way to Tokyo, Japan to represent in international competition. Hank is competing in the 44 Clash and we wish him the best along with all of the other Duncan Crew members that are going to be there. It is a prestigious contest and only the best are invited. Extra love to you guys. We know you will do wonderful!

mad love to: Hank Freeman, Brandon Jackson, Fajar Siddiq, Chris Makita, Mimi Makita, Sean Perez, Bu-ko, Kohta Watanabe, Hidemasa Semba, Marron, Terry, and Kazuaki Sugimura!!!!!

The pattern continues, Duncan Crew promotes only the best contests! Our week in Kansas City wrapped up with a fine fine day and one contest to rule them all.

We threw down at Brookside Toy & Science and the setting could not have been more perfect. The store is awesome. The staff is top notch. They did a great job promoting the contest. All that and it was such a nice day that we decided to set up out front and take advantage of the beautiful weather and the beautiful space. What else could any of us possibly need? Top level players you say?…

Thanks to our week linking up so much with the Kansas City Yo-Yo club, we had a great many players of all skill levels. And like we’ve done before, we threw an “experienced division” contest along with our heritage contest. The results were surprising and fascinating. It shook out like this. For the “Experienced Division” Justin Perez came in 3rd. Blake Freeman got 2nd and National Master, Rick Wyatt took home the gold. It is worth saying that Rick was actually partially defeated due to Nate getting a higher score on sleeper.(note: Rick Wyatt is a guiness book sleeper record holder at over 18 minutes)

For the real deal Heritage Contest division it was a real fight. Everyone took the contest super serious and delivered. The results were like so: third place was Alex Jones. Second place was Luke Sherman and the winner for the week was Daniel Traub. The truth is, everyone who threw a yo-yo today was a winner.

We may have not known it then but, these sorts of events are a huge part of the reason any yo-yo professional ever picked up a yo-yo. Nothing is a cool as teaching someone to yo-yo and seeing them blow the doors off the place in a contest. This is what being a demonstrator is all about. A massive thank your to Brookside Toy & Science as well as Kansas City in general. You all went above and beyond and the week was awesome. I promise, your scene will be better for it.

I saw it coming a mile away. Today’s contest at Creative Kidstuff, Minneapolis (West End) was hardcore. It was the place where a week of great demos and years of serious scene building in the city could coalesce into some serious displays of yo-yo play. We had a lot of the local professionals come out to trade tricks and help out the competitors. And we had quite a few developing players we met this week come out and throw down for the glory of winning and that sweet Schwinn.

At the end of the day, there had could only be one winner. The results sheet looked like this. Keaton Moen came in third place. Joey Farah took second place. Gavin Lent clenched first place. Each and every competitor gave their all and each of them is an inspiration to us.

The field was full of amazing stories of people and how they relate to yo-yos. Some people used the yo-yo as a way to recapture their younger, wilder days. Others used the yo-yo as a way to rehabilitate themselves to perfect health. They were all amazing individuals. I can’t wait to hear more from these guys. I know that if they keep it up that each of them will make big things out of themselves, with and without the yo-yo. The Heritage Tour is the best!

At one time, Luck Wisconsin was the center of the Duncan yo-yo universe. During the early years, nearly every model of yo-yo was manufactured there and the people of that town have embraced it as a large part of their heritage since. Naturally, we had to stop by and throw a contest and demonstration on this tour. It would not be complete otherwise.

The vibe of the entire town is awesome. We got a chance to cruise by the old Duncan factory building. We drove down Duncan Street. We took photos with a massive Duncan yo-yo that was once part of the factory and we got a chance to catch up with another of the legendary Duncan demonstrators from the 50’s, Ted Anderson.

Ted was an absolutely delight to be around. He told us all about his days as a demonstrator and what it was like to play around the United States and internationally. Every time we are fortunate enough to hear the stories of the elder demonstrators, we realize just how fortunate we are. Not only is the road easier on us than it was on them but, their stories are simply invaluable. I am so happy to have a chance to be a part of documenting their contributions to the activity we love so much.

The contest and demonstration were a roaring success as well. First off, I neglected to mention that Bill Cafe had gifted us vintage Duncan Jeweled yo-yos last night. Hank was so hyped up about having his that he did the entire of today’s demo with it, in tribute to Mr. Cafe. Needless to say, it played beautifully and made us look really cool. The kids of Luck were also really cool. They worked really hard and the contest rounded out like this. Brooklyn Peterson came in fourth place. Billy Lipoff got third place. Logan Nieman solidly got second and Erin Frank smashed the competition in first place. It was so nice to see everyone enjoy themselves and share the legacy of their town. I like to hope that now, we are a little slice of the history of Luck and Duncan’s partnership.

Life as a Duncan demonstrator is extraordinary. What other job allows you to travel around the world, play with toys, teach people the thing that brings you joy, and live minor celebrity status all at the same time? Today’s events were so top notch that the two main components deserve their own blog entries.

We had a fantastic contest in Madison, Wisconsin today. Capitol Kids was kind enough to host us and the time and place were so very right. There is no place I would rather be on any part of Halloween weekend than Madison’s Capitol Square. This town takes Halloween seriously and that means lots of people and lots of fun.

We got out there bright and early and the streets were already buzzing with activity. That much energy and foot traffic meant that we were bound to have great fun with the contest. It was fate and it was beautiful.

The contest ended up being my favorite kind of contest. Lots of beginning players and the stress level was low. Everyone just put it all out there and had a great time playing. I love it when people play yo-yo and remember to have fun above all else. Too often, contests turn into stress and tension for the players and nobody was hung up on that in Madison.

The top four scores rounded out like this: Lille Sandholm came in 4th. Wesley Kaminsky came in 3rd. Flannery Brewster got 2nd. It bears mentioning that Flannery is a natural and had only been playing yoyo for 20 minutes before she entered the contest. And the winner for the day was Henry Pfau (AKA Hank II)! Henry was such a good player that we felt the need to rename him Hank II after our own Hank Freeman. He embraced the power so well that by the end of the day, he identified himself as Hank II. I even had to ask him his last name at one point and he replied “TWO!”. The kid is clearly made of iron.

A big thanks again to all of the players who came out today and to Jenna and the Capitol Kids family. Also, a special thanks goes out to Dan Ickler( AKA Zamstrom) and Layla for coming out and making the day extra special for us. You will always have a special place in my heart for sure.

Here are the tricks you want to learn to rock out at a Heritage Tour contest.

Razzmatazz Toys in Livonia, MI is a new location but, they know exactly how to get a party started. From first thing in the morning to last light, we had one heck of a time and an exciting contest with some great people and some great players.

From the get go, it was obvious that all of the players we ran into this week had decided to take this contest super serious and that there would be fierce competition. They definitely did not disappoint. They players all practiced hard and represented their neighborhoods with ferocity and focus rarely seen outside of a good old fashioned rumble. It was awesome.

In the end, the competition was so stiff that we ended with a tie and had to have a loop off to decide who would become champion of the Greater Detroit Area. For the uninitiated, a loop off is where you have two competitors lined up side by side and they each perform as many inside loops as they can. The first person to make a mistake or lose the strength to loop is defeated. It has been a while since any of us had seen a loop off and so, it was dramatic and exciting for all of us.

The final results shook out like this, Chase Baxter rounded out third place with a very respectable score of 39. First and second place players each scored an awesome 46 points but, Nathan Easton ended up in second place with 30 loops(on a dragonfly no less). And Michael Stecz won the entire thing with an awesome 79 loops! The boy put it down with authority! He loves his new Schwinn bicycle and looks great with it. He earned it for sure.

I can’t thank Chris and Laura Mathews enough for hosting us at three different events this week. They definitely went above and beyond and it was more than any of us could have expected. A huge shout out also goes out to Kyle and Patti! They were the energy that kept us excited and we love them for it. I know I’ve said it before but, I seriously hope the rest of the tour holds up to the awesome that we have already been through. The legendary players of Michigan have been and continue to be a huge inspiration for us as well. Rich Machniak, Bud Lutz, and Mike Taylor have kept the home fires burning even when they were only a candle in the window. Thank you for everything.

The rest of the cities we visit are going to have a serious hard time topping the greater Cleveland metropolitan area. We had all of the Ohio massive representing in style today. We threw a contest at the Recess store in North Olmsted. It is the largest of the stores that we visited this week and there were times when even this huge space was crowded with too much awesome!

We eased into the contest today by demonstrating the basic ten tricks of yo-yo and the five styles of play. Jumario Simmons, a local to Cleveland, helped us out with that by killing it with an offstring mini freestyle that blew the doors off the place. As if that wasn’t enough, Takeshi then boosted the energy by throwing a spintop freestyle. He killed it so hard that I am still excited about it as I type this hours later.

The players that entered the official contest took it serious and brought A game throughout. AJ Oldin took third place with a respectable 38 points. Michael Durdak came in second with an awesome 46 points and Thomas Sheldon showed everyone what’s up in first place with a near perfect 48 points. He looks the coolest with his new Schwinn bicycle. At only 11 years old, Thomas is well on his way to becoming one of the finest players anyone has ever seen. Everyone that entered was great and everyone there had a great time.

We were having so much fun that we decided to throw an unofficial side contest for all of the experienced and advanced players that came out to support. The format was similar but, we threw a few wrenches into the mix for them. The trick list was still ten tricks but it started at creeper. We then added modifiers that the players could use to boost their point values. The breakdown was like this: eyes closed = +2, non dominant hand = +2, behind the back = +2, one footed = +2, style points = +1-+3.  As if that wasn’t enough, we also added two advanced tricks to the end of the list and required them to be done on a fixed axle yoyo. Everyone pushed themselves and some serious play was the result. Jake Willis was in Third place, Isaac Sams was in second and Jumario Simmons came in first. Jumario threw it down so hard that we feel like at any further stops where we have this event, it will be called the Jumario Simmons Invitational division. Seriously, One Footed-Left Handed-Blind Folded-Behind the Back-Stylish-Loop the Loop is no joke.

Now it’s off to Grand Rapids and all points beyond for us. I seriously hope the rest of the tour brings game like this. It could mean that we change the name from Heritage Tour to the Future Tour.