Hundreds of people named Josh showed up to a park in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday for a fight to find the best Josh.
It started as a joke when Josh Swain, of Arizona, said last year there could only be one person with his name and challenged others with the moniker on Facebook to a fight. Swain sent them random coordinates, which ended up being in Nebraska, and picked April 24, 2021 as the date for the Joshening.
After he posted screenshots of his Facebook message to Twitter, the invitation to the ultimate Joshing championship went viral.
Swain said people came from all over the country, and some even flew in. Joshes from South Dakota, Texas and New York participated in the Josh royale, NBC Omaha affiliate WOWT reports.
Many Joshes dueled with pool noodles — and some simply competed with rock, paper, scissors — in the battle for Josh supremacy.
Swain declared a 4-year old with a red noodle, Joshua Vinson Jr, the ultimate Josh at the Josh off, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.
The event also raised money for the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Foundation of Nebraska, and many attendees brought food and supplies for local food banks, according to the Journal Star.
Nobody appeared to be injured in the Josh brawl. Some attendees were in fact not named Josh, but still welcomed.
Video of the scene showed a chaotic Josh-for-all, with many of the attendees wearing masks. Outdoor gatherings, especially when attendees are masked, are largely low-risk and rarely sites of mass Covid-19 infections.
More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. have been named Josh since 1880, according to records analyzed by Baby Names Hub.
