By Ken Magri
During the autumn months there are plenty of big activities in Chico that folks can attend, like the ARTober Fest, the Art and Wine Walk and 45th annual Concours d’Elegance. But we wanted to highlight a few smaller groups and activities that locals may not be unaware of, but can still participate in, mostly for free.
The National Yo-Yo Museum and Chico Yo-Yo Club
Located in the back of the Bird in Hand gift shop at 320 Broadway is a small area marked by a four foot high wooden yo-yo. It is called the National Yo-Yo Museum. Dedicated to the evolution of the modern yo-yo, this tiny museum’s showcases line the walls, stocked with hundreds of yo-yos of every decade and type. Of course, the gift shop also sells new yo-yos to visitors who get so inspired.
On Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m., store manager Thad Winzenz and other yo-yo club members give free lessons in Diamond Alley, just off the store’s back entrance. On a recent Saturday, a dozen people, mostly kids, practiced their tricks and sought out new ones while occasional passers-by marveled at their collective skills.
I recently attended a Chico Yo-Yo Club meeting, pulling out my 50-year old Duncan glow-in-the-dark Imperial model. Winzenz took my yo-yo and effortlessly performed a series of old-school tricks, like “walk the dog” and “rock the cradle” while launching into a history of the toy.
The modern yo-yo began as a simple up-and-down toy, marketed at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. But the large metal discs couldn’t “sleep,” or spin when at the end of the string.
In the late 1920s, a Filipino businessman named Pedro Flores invented the first sleeping yo-yo by looping, rather than tying, the string around the axle. Called the “Flores yo-yo,” it meant tricks could be done while the yo-yo was spinning. Not long after, Donald Duncan bought out Flores and sold yo-yos through his own Duncan Toy Company.
Many baby-boomers remember the yo-yo craze of the 1950s and 60s, when it seemed like every kid owned at least one Duncan yo-yo. Later came new brands and new technologies like wider string gaps, trans-axles and roller-bearing axles. These improvements allow a yo-yo to spin much longer and perform more sophisticated tricks than the old fixed-axle models.
I handed Winzenz a very old metal yo-yo that was literally dug up in the Sierra decades ago. “Oh yeah, that’s a whistler,” he said, pointing to holes drilled into the outer shell to make it howl. As he flipped that antique around the alley, he explained that sound-producing yo-yos go back to the 1930s.
One club member in particular, 11-year old Kymani Pocock, was insistent about mastering a new trick before moving on to another. Pocock says he’s been into yo-yos for about a year and sometimes watches the masters do tricks on You Tube. His mom says he is pretty much obsessed with yo-yos, for now.
The Chico Community Observatory
Would you like to see the rings of Saturn or close-ups of craters on the moon? The Chico Community Observatory is a modest facility that offers visitors the opportunity to see planets and stars for free by looking through huge telescopes. Now reopened after an 18-month closure, the roof has been repaired to slide back and forth, allowing the telescopes access to the nighttime sky.
On Friday, September 20th, the reopening brought out hundreds of attendees. Parked cars lined Wildwood Avenue and Observatory Way as the visitors seemed to come in waves throughout the evening. But the next night’s gathering was like a more typical weekend, with visitors numbering only in the dozens.
Along with the two telescopes, volunteers like Tom Lampkin, Sally Regan and Laurie Thiede regularly bring out their own smaller telescopes to set up, using tripods on a flat concrete slab. They are eager to answer questions and allow visitors a peek through their personal equipment.
The observatory also features an open sky planetarium, which is a pair of concentric concrete circles shaped as lounge chairs so that visitors can sit with their heads already aimed up at the sky. Bring some padding for comfort and a set of binoculars, or relax and let the volunteers identify well known stars with their laser pointers.
The observatory is located at #1 Observatory Way, near the end of Upper Bidwell Park. Its hours are sunset until the park closes at 11pm, or sunset to 9pm in the winter. Combined with an evening walk along Chico Creek, stargazing at the observatory can be part of a fun late night activity. More can be learned at the Chico Area Recreation and Park District’s website, or on the observatory’s Facebook page.
Chico Writing Groups
Many people aspire to be writers, or better writers. Some want to do it for money or fame, while others simply want an audience to share their thoughts with. Butte County residents have both a large and small opportunity to engage with other writers.
North State Writers is the Chico branch of the California Writers Club, one of the oldest organizations for professional writers. While this group charges annual dues, it also provides a myriad of opportunities, including writing workshops, presentations, writing contests and social events to help aspiring writers get needed feedback and make the important connections to propel their success.
The club meets on the third Monday of each month at 6pm, over at the Chico Veterans Memorial Hall at 554 Rio Linda Avenue. For more information, see its website.
Shut Up and Write is a great alternative for writers who want something more intimate and without annual dues. This is a smaller group of writers who meet at local coffee houses and write for an hour in silence before socializing with one another. Sharing one’s work is not required. “It will amaze you how motivating it is simply to be in the company of your fellow writers,” says Diana on the group’s page at MeetUp.com. “Even if you only spend one hour a week on writing, you will make progress.”
This group meets on Saturdays from 2pm to 4pm at Bidwell Perk coffee house at 664 East 1st Avenue. It also meets on Fridays at 4pm at the Starbucks in Paradise, at 6344 Skyway. Find more details here.
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