Today is the bitterest of bittersweet days. Today marks my last batch of shows and demos on this tour. There couldn’t be a nicer place to wrap up than at Disney World but, it just stings to know that it has to end for me.

The Heritage Tour has been nothing but, the best times in the best places with the best people. Before we even got out here, I considered Drew Tetz, Hank Freeman, and Takeshi Kamisato among my family. But, I like to think that getting out there and doing shows, demonstrating, blogging and throwing contests has let the rest of the world in on how special the bond within Duncan Crew is. There really is nothing like our crew anywhere and I appreciate it more now than I ever have.

We rocked our shows like we rocked every single stop on this tour. We showed the Disney audiences how much joy and love we have for our craft, them and each other. We went the extra mile to throw some special moments into our last shows. And we put the finishing touches on a tour we will be proud of for a long time to come.

A huge thank you goes out to all of the yo-yo legends, retailers, players and nonplayers that allowed us in your places and hearts, or came out to the demos and made this all very special. You are a part of the legacy we are building and you will be remembered.

Duncan Equals Love. Never forget that.

Duncan Heritage Tour 01

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.

It’s Recess again! This time we visited the store at the Weston/Southpark Central mall (Strongville, OH) and they call it Strongsville for a reason. The place is ten kinds of fancy and twenty kinds of fun and because of that, the demo went very well.

We had some experienced players from Strongsville come out as well as some players representing the Cleveland Yo-Yo Club. It is always nice to meet people and instantly connect over yo-yos and to see other people do the same. Any chance to perpetuate that is a good thing. We even had a little help with our friend, Isaac Sams. If you haven’t checked out his video on the Duncan Toys youtube channel, you should do yourself a favor and see it.

The staff at the store was the best. Danny Fink came into work knowing only how to barely get the yo-yo back to his hand, he left work able to throw a double or nothing with good success. Megan Harpster came in knowing only that she didn’t know how to yoyo, she threw so much that she worked her elbow sore. Last but definitely not least, Bill “Schmo” loves Duncan so much that he came into work on his Birthday of all days! We appreciated Bill so much that we had to sing happy birthday to him twice.

We were having such a successful demo that we extended it a few hours and made the most of it. We had at least three people landing brain twister on their first day. We spent some of that time coming up with tricks that will blow minds. Some of the stuff we came up with even involved two and three players. and and and and and……..POV trick videos. You are not ready.