Calling all Kyles: The town of Kyle, Texas is holding a Kyle Fair, hoping to break the world record for the largest namesake gathering. The event will be held on May 21st, of course, at Lake Kyle Park.
Whether you’re Kyle Lowry, Kyle Mooney, Kyle Richards, Kyle MacLachlan, or Kyle Schwarber, all Kyles are welcome, as long as you spell it that way.
The city has attempted to break the record three times before. Kyle’s arch-nemesis: Ivan. The town of Kupreski Kosci in Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered 2,325 people named Ivan in 2017, setting a world record.
“We need tall Kyles, short Kyles, young Kyles and old Kyles to get closer to the record set five years ago,” said Claudia Rocha, Special Events Director for the City of Kyle. he said in a statement. “We are very excited about the upcoming inaugural Kyle Fair and have high hopes that this event will bring out the Kyles needed to take a place in the record books.”
Previous attempts to break the record have drawn Kyles from as far away as Massachusetts, the city says.
The event, called Kyle Fair, A Tex-Travaganza, will be held May 19-21, but on the last day, all the Kyles will gather for a group photo. Entry to the fair is free.
The big meetings of the same name have been in the headlines before. In 2020, a man named Josh Swain challenged others with the same full name to meet him in Nebraska, “precisely on 04/24/2021 at 12:00 p.m.”
“Let’s fight, whoever wins gets to keep their name, everyone else has to change their name, you have a year to prepare, good luck,” he said in a Facebook message to teammate Josh Swains.
The plans gained traction, and about a year later, hundreds more people named josh submitted to the “battle” another. They kept the fighting PG, with pool noodle battles and a massive game of rock, paper and scissors.
The Ultimate Josh: A 14-year-old affectionately called “Little Josh” by others. The winner, who was there with his father, Josh Vinson Sr., was honored with a Burger King paper crown that was too big for his head.
Josh’s fight wasn’t just a spectacle for Nebraskans and those who watched it online. The event raised money for Children’s Hospital and the Omaha Medical Center Foundation, so Little Josh is perhaps the most deserving winner of the hundreds of Joshes, as he spent time at Children’s Hospital when he have seizures at age 2.
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