What started as a Facebook joke went viral and brought together a crowd of strangers in a friendly competition to be the “legitimate” bearer of identity.
A rare fight over Josh’s name drew crowds from across the country to a Nebraska park on Saturday for a series of competitions that included a duel in a noodle pool.
It all started a year ago when Josh Swain, a 22-year-old college student from Tucson, Arizona, contracted the epidemic, sending a message to others who shared their names on social media. What happened and challenged them to a couple.
“You are probably wondering why I brought you together today,” he wrote in a Facebook group chat to other people named Josh Swain. On April 24, 2021, at midnight, we will gather at these coordinates. We will fight; whoever wins can keep the name. All the rest will have to change yours. You have one year to make, good luck.
The joke went viral, and, finally, hundreds of people showed up at Lincoln’s Air Park -a place chosen at random- to participate in the day of “duels.”
The celebrations began with a terrifying and fair rock paper scissor fight between Josh Swain from Arizona and another Josh Swain from Omaha. The Arizona student won the competition, which directed him to deserve the title of Real Josh Swain KLKN-TV reports.
Meanwhile, other assistants played dueling, all in are friendly. And the rules were clear.
“There will be no physical violence in the meeting,” Swain had clarified in the announcement posted on Reddit. Also, everyone was requested to wear masks by local regulations for the pandemic.
The pool noodle contest that followed was open to anyone by the name of Josh. The winner of that competition was a 5-year-old boy, who was crowned with a Burger King crown.
Also, it was urged that non-perishable food be taken so that the day has charitable purposes. A donation page was opened with the supposed objective that the Josh Swain “losers” change their name, but that in reality, it will allocate all the proceeds to a children’s hospital. As of Sunday morning, he had raised nearly $ 10,000.
Swain, the organizer, said he’s a bit surprised by how the whole thing blew up: “I didn’t expect people to be as adamant about this as they are doing now.”