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| Festival Big Zapper |
| Exhibit #5170 |
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| Type | Production |
| Shape | Standard (-) |
| Axle | Fixed |
| Finish | Painted |
| Color | Green/Gold |
| Packaging | Bubble Carded |
| Construction | One piece wood |
| Response | None |
| Gap | Fixed |
| Condition | Mint |
| Date | 1967 |
| To | 1970 |
| Owner | Rick Brough |
| Compare |  |
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The 59¢ Festival Toys Big Zapper YoYo, sold around 1967-1970, was a one-piece beechwood yo-yo made in Sweden by Elfverson & Company, as indicated by the small stamp on the opposite side. It was similar in size and shape to Duncan’s maple wood Tournament yo-yo. Festival Toys was a division of Union Wadding Company, located at 125 Goff Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 02862.
This green model featured a gold foil-stamped logo on one side. The card described it as “…the semi-pro-yo…with trick string.”
The back of the card showed how to wind and hold the yo-yo. It also included instructions for two classic tricks: Sleeper and Walk the Dog. Both tricks had been part of yo-yo play for more than 40 years by the time the Big Zapper YoYo was sold.
Festival Toys was connected to Wilfred Hardy "Wilf" Schlee, Jr., an important figure in yo-yo history. Schlee continued the work of his father, Wilfred Schlee, Sr., who founded the Cheerio yo-yo brand in Canada in the early 1930s. After World War II, Wilf Schlee, Jr. helped expand Cheerio into the United States, where it became a major yo-yo brand into the early 1950s. Cheerio became so well known that some contest patches from the period identified winners as "Cheerio Champion" rather than "Yo-Yo Champion."
After the Cheerio brand was sold to Duncan in 1954, Schlee continued producing yo-yos under the Hi-Ker and Festival names. These brands helped carry forward the Schlee family’s role in North American yo-yo manufacturing and promotion. Schlee also influenced later yo-yo figures, including Harvey Lowe and Joe Young, both of whom are recognized in the Yo-Yo Hall of Fame.
Wilfred Hardy Schlee, Jr. was born on March 10, 1924, in Ontario, Canada. He died on April 23, 1995, in Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island, at age 71. His work with Cheerio, Hi-Ker, and Festival helped shape the yo-yo industry and preserve an important part of its mid-century history. | |
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