Don’t you love when one of your library programs sparks a
new interest in someone? Within the last
year I had received two separate requests from teen boys to bring Dazzling
Dave, National Yo-Yo Master and world record holder, back to the library for
another yo-yo program. Both boys had
fallen in love with the hobby after learning to yo-yo at Dazzling Dave’s yo-yo
workshop held in 2014. They checked out
library materials and watched online videos to learn new tricks and practiced,
practiced, practiced. One of the boys
took 5th place in a Midwest yo-yo competition and has created a website:
www.spintricks.com. The other young man has aspirations of
inventing a new yo-yo. And both boys do
some pretty amazing tricks.
I was delighted to see the excitement in these two boys
and invited them during spring break week to showcase their talent at the
library in whatever way they were comfortable.
One of the young men brought his yo-yos and gave lessons to library
customers and performed some of his impressive tricks.
The other young man put on two one-hour
performances in the center of the library that drew good size crowds of people
whose interest was piqued. Both of these
“pop-up performances” brought a very fun and lively atmosphere to the
library.
Library staff was thrilled to be able to highlight the
talent of our youth, and it meant a lot to the boys to be recognized by their
library…the place that their love for yo-yos began. My desire is to continue to showcase the wide
varieties of our customers’ talents. And
here is to all of the wonderful librarians in our area and beyond that help to
spark and foster new interests in our patrons.