TWINS DAYS WEEKEND
Twins Days Weekend is the first full weekend in August every year. People will see double in Twinsburg, Ohio during the Twins Day Festival. Guinness Book of World Records calls it the “Largest Annual Gathering of Twins in the World.”
The goal of the Twins Days Festival is to celebrate the uniqueness of twins and others of multiple births. Researchers attend the festival because it provides a centralized location for a multitude of twin-related information, including research studies and photo documentation of twins.
Did You know:
- In the last 40 years, the Twin birth rate in the United States has varied from 18.9 to 33.2 per 1,000 live births.
- The Twin Project at the University of Texas says, “The percent of people who are twins differs by race and ethnicity. In the U.S., twins are most common in African-Americans (36.8 per 1000) and least common in Hispanic/Latino Americans (21.8 per 1000). The states with the highest rates of twins are Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, and the state with the lowest rate is New Mexico.”
Famous twins:
- Shawn and Aaron Ashmore. Shawn starred in the X-Men films and “The Following” while his brother was in “Killjoys” and “Warehouse 13.” Both actors played in Smallville as well.
- James and Oliver Phelps the charming, red-headed Weasley Brothers from The Harry Potter series
- Dylan and Cole Sprouse “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”
- Billy and Benny Loyd McCrary, better known as “The McGuire Twins,” were professional wrestlers. They tipped the scales at a combined weight of 1468 pounds.
- Also, wrestlers, Brie and Nikki Bella are a professional wrestling tag team for World Wrestling Entertainment.
- Perhaps the most famous twins of all time, are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen who played Michelle Tanner in the sitcom Full House. They are not identical twins, but rather fraternal twins.
HOW TO OBSERVE #TwinsDaysWeekend
Attend the Twins Days event in Twinsburg, Ohio. Non-twins are welcome. Learn more about National Twins Day at the website www.twinsdays.org.
Follow the day’s conversation using #twinsdays on social media.
TWINS DAYS WEEKEND HISTORY
Moses and Aaron Wilcox, who founded Twinsburg, Ohio in 1819, inspired the creation of Twins Days. In 1976, during the Bicentennial Celebration of the United States, people in Twinsburg started planning to set aside one day a year for twins. The following year, determined not to let the idea die, a committee went into action and made the second Twins Day happen. There were 38 sets of twins who attended that year.
The past 43 festivals have seen over 77,000 sets of twins and multiples attend.
Relevant Observances
National Twin Day – All across the country, twins, their friends and families celebrate all things twins on December 18th.